JTAGrrespondenes Eyewitness Report on Tragedy Near Mat
youngsters quickly recovered from
the shock and had started to tend
the injured when other cars came
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)
along and, soon, ambulances from
EBRER ORA, Negev. — A crip- Eilat. Army engineers arrived on
pled bus, leaning at a sharp angle the scene quickly to search for
on desert bushes on a- remote - but
heavily traveled Negev highway,
gave mute evidence Tuesday of a
tragedy that could have been a
great disaster.
Only a few hours earlier the bus
was filled with youngsters—sev-
enth and eight graders from Tel
Aviv's Herzlia Academyin high
spirits on the second day of a five-
day sight-seeing excursion that
was intended to acquaint them
with the geography and natural
beauties of their country; It was
the final trip of the school year,
one they had anticipated_ for
months.
The bus, a late model Leyland,
-Was the second in a. convoy of
Jhree. The 24-year-old driver de-
cided to pass the bus ahead to
avoid the dust it was raising. He
accelerated his left front wheel
and struck an anti-vehicle mine,
one that experts later identified as
a British-made Marck -VII con-
sisting of 7 1/2 kilograms of high
explosives.
"We heard an explosion. We
were showered with glass splin-
ters. Everything was black. I
heard somebody crying and
somebody shouting, it's a mine,"
a 17-year-old girl who was a
passenger on the bus told me
later in Eilat. Her blouse and
blue jeans were covered, with
dust and spots of blood as she
waited in line to use a telephone
to call her parents and tell them
that she was safe. She was one
of 20 youngsters who suffered
minor injuries and were treated
at a first aid station in Eilat.
Nine seriously injured were tak-
en to Eilat airport where a Nord-
atlas transport plane was called
in to fly them to hospitals in Tel
Aviv. Hundreds of Eilat citizens
came to the airport offering to
donate blood.
Two of the bus passengers were
dead. Dr. Pessach Meilin, one of
several physicians who accompan-
ied the youngsters on excursion,
and Hannan Kalev, a Herzlia
graduate who had volunteered to
serve as a counselor, occupied
seats directly over the left front
wheel.
Observers at the scene said
that only a miracle prevented
more injuries and deaths. Never-
theless, it was the worst disaster
to hit a civilian vehicle in the
mounting campaign of terror and
sabotage coming from across the
Jordanian border. There were
few here who didn't predict that
it would have dire consequences.
The road near Beer Ora lies
less than 2% miles from the Jor-
danian frontier. The land is rocky,
arid and largely deserted, ideal
for infiltrators and their hit-and-
run tatics. Only Sunday, three
ocepants of a civilian taxi were in-
jured when the vehicle struck a
mine in the same area.
The damaged school bus was
still filled with the belongings of
its occupants when I inspected it.
There were duffles and camping
kits strewn over the floor, a girl's
'shoe here, another there.' T h e
driver escaped injury when he was
thrown by the explosion. There
was no panic, I'was told. The
BY I. SHARGIL
JTA Correspondent in Tel Aviv
more mines. Within a half-hour,
all of the youngsters, were on their
way back to Eilat.
Obviously the marauders who
planted the mine were intent on
causing civilian casualties. The
The Detroit Department of
Parks and Recreation's forestry
and landscaping division sprayed
304,551 trees last year as part
road is well traveled by civilian of its Dutch elm disease control
vehicles, including many school program.
buses. It was near a bus stop
that the taxi struck a mine Sun-
day, a mine that was apparently THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, March 22, 1968-13
intended for a crowded bus.
He' s .Treating Everybody like Family!
Olds 88
Olds 98
Olds T.85
Children7s Art Exhibit
NEW YORK—The JevVish Edu-
cation Committee of New York
opens its 25th annual exhibition of
children's art on March 31 at. the
Jewish Education Committee Build-
ing, 426 58th St.
Based on Genesis II:7, on
display will be every conceivable
medium in two, three and ,four
dimensions: paintings; tapestries,
transparencies, figures in wire,
wood, papier mache and a special
Immunity project in fresco.
ildren from the age of 3
gh high school will partici-
pproximately 100 Orthodox,
vative and ReforM • religious
.
u
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President
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WHAT'LL MY JERRY DO NEXT?
Allen Charnes
Vice president
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