World

Fatal Train Wreck

Truck on tracks derails Israeli passenger liner.

ARIEH O'SULLIVAN

Jerusalem Post

Revidim, Israel
t least seven people were killed
and more than 120 were
injured in a collision between
a truck and a passenger train that
occurred near Kibbutz Revadim, east
of Ashdod, Tuesday afternoon.
The train was making its way from
Haifa to Beersheva when a truck,
which had just left the kibbutz report-
edly transporting chicken cages,
crossed the train tracks at an ungated
crossing.
Police investigators said "with 100
percent certainty" that the fatal crash
was not any type of terror attack.
Rumors that the collision was caused
by a suicide bomber were completely
unfounded, police assured.

A

Passengers on the train reported that
they felt the engineer's attempt to acti-
vate an emergency brake, but it appar-
ently was unsuccessful in preventing
the collision. They also recalled hear-
ing the engineer repeatedly sound the
train's horn in advance of the collision.
The force of the crash threw the
engine and first car of the train a dis-
tance of more than 600 feet. The train
was derailed, and the train's second
and third cars flipped over and were
completely crushed, witnesses told
Israel Radio.
The truck was torn apart by the
force of the collision.
Five of the injured in serious to crit-
ical condition, among them an infant,
were airlifted to Tel Hashomer
Hospital. ZAKA reported that up to
eight were killed and more than 180
injured, but the exact numbers were

Rescue workers evacuate the victims of a train accident near
Kibbutz Revadim on June 21.

uncertain. More than 100 injured pas-
sengers received treatment at the
scene, and many were evacuated to
hospitals.
Passengers remained trapped under
the wreckage, and rescue specialists,
including the elite Homefront

Command search-and-rescue unit,
were on the scene.
Evacuation of the injured was made
more difficult by the isolated nature of
the site of the collision. At least 10 trips
were made by military helicopters to
evacuate the wounded to hospitals. ❑

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