(JTA) — A school bus killed a 91-year-old Holocaust survivor as he was crossing a street in a Maryland suburb of Washington.
Elia Miranski was using a walker when the bus hit him in Silver Spring on Wednesday, the Silver Spring Patch news site reported. He died later that day in a hospital. The incident is under investigation.
The bus was returning students to Hammond Middle School in Howard County following a field trip to the White House, according to police. None of the 14 students or two chaperones on board were hurt, nor was the driver.
The school brought in crisis counselors for students and parents, the WBAL television channel reported.
Authorities said Miranski had safely crossed the southbound lanes of Columbia Pike and was attempting to cross the northbound lanes when he was struck, CBS reported.
Montgomery County police believe the first two lanes of northbound traffic crossed by Miranski were stopped on a red, left-turn arrow. The bus was traveling on a green signal when it struck the man. The driver was identified by CBS as Lori Jean Latimer, 52, of Elkridge.
Miranski, a Poland native, had escaped from German soldiers during the Holocaust, the Washington Post reported. He later fought in World War II in the Soviet military.
Last May, Miranski gave the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum an oral account of his escape. The recording is available on the museum’s website.
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