Israel Mourns 18 Children, 4 Adults Killed when Train Hit School Bus

All of Israel was in mourning today for the 18 children and four adults killed yesterday when a speeding passenger train slammed into a busload of seventh graders stalled on an unguarded railroad crossing about 12 miles south of Haifa. Seventeen children were injured and remain hospitalized.

Attention was focussed on Petach Tikvah where the youngsters were students at the Brenner Junior High School. Shops and businesses were closed as the city turned out for a mass state funeral attended by President Chaim Herzog, Premier Shimon Peres, Cabinet ministers and Knesset members. The burial of one boy was postponed pending the return of his parents from a visit to San Francisco.

The young victims, aged 12-13, were members of Class 7-12, one of the 13 seventh grade classes at the Brenner school. Also killed was their teacher, Esther Gatz, 29, and a parent, Sheli Mendelovi, 34, who accompanied her daughter Meirav as a volunteer adult escort on what was to have been a festive outing to the seashore nature preserve at Moshav Habonim.

Gatz leaves a husband and two small children. Mendelovi, whose daughter died in the accident, leaves a husband and young son. The bus driver, Ruth Davidov, 39, of Givatayim, a divorced mother of two children, was also killed. She was buried today in a separate funeral in Kfar Warburg.

BUSES LEAVE HEADLIGHTS ON AS MOURNING SIGN

The bus was one of a convoy of four carrying seventh graders from the Brenner school on the outing Today, buses all over Israel drove with their headlights on as a sign of mourning. The accident, which transport authorities said was one of the worst in Israel’s history, occurred at one of 300 railroad crossings which have no gates or warning lights because they are on little used secondary roads.

A commission of inquiry appointed by the Transport Ministry began an investigation today to determine why the bus stalled on the tracks. The driver died minutes after para-medics arrived at the scene.

The train, a Tel Aviv-to Haifa express, was travelling at its authorized speed of 60 mph. Most of the 400 passengers aboard were soldiers who travel free. One of them who was looking out of a window, was injured when the locomotive engineer slammed on his brakes before striking the rear end of the bus. Transport Ministry officials said a train at that speed requires 1,825 feet to come to a full stop but the bus was only 600 feet away when it was spotted by the engineer blocking the track.

CONCERNED BY PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS

The psychological effects of the tragedy on the victims’ schoolmates was a cause of serious concern in its aftermath. On the advice of psychologists, the Principal of the Brenner School ordered classes to begin as usual today at 8 a.m. A cadre of psychologists and nurses was on hand to care for any children who showed signs they were disturbed. Several youngsters in fact collapsed during the morning and a number were sent to a hospital.

Teachers too were traumatized. After two hours of classes during which they discussed the tragedy with their students — as advised to by psychologists — they had to be relieved. Classroom 7-12 was empty except for four children who, by sheer chance, did not go on yesterday’s outing. They were promptly distributed among other classes.

In a statement released after the crash, President Herzog said: “This is a sad and tragic day, a day of national mourning. We are shocked to the core by this terrible disaster … How long must this fearful slaughter on our roads continue? Will this terrible shock bring us to our senses or will we continue tomorrow as if nothing occurred?” he asked. Herzog was referring to Israel’s dismal record of traffic accidents, one of the highest per capita in the world.

Today, Premier Shimon Peres received a message of sympathy from Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain who asked him to convey her condolences to the bereaved families.