train crash 311.
(photo credit: Channel 10)
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All the casualties were on the minibus, which, according to
initial police findings, smashed through the railroad barrier and onto the
tracks just before the train’s arrival. Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz
said he was certain the minibus driver was to blame.
The
driver, who
survived, was a neighbor of the Bernstein family.
The crash occurred at 7
p.m. slightly north of the Kiryat Gat train station. All the minibus
passengers
were injured to varying degrees and were evacuated by helicopters and
ambulances
to regional hospitals. People on the southbound passenger train suffered
only
minor bruises as a result of the emergency braking and the
collision.
Giora Weiss, the train driver, told Channel 2 that he had
spotted the minibus moving quickly toward the track from 200 meters away
and
immediately pressed the emergency brake, but that neither vehicle could
stop in
time.
“The minibus was traveling too fast to stop at the barrier. Instead
of coming to a halt at the barrier, he stopped on the tracks,” Israel
Railways
director-general Yitzhak Harel said from the scene.
“Apparently the
driver was talking to his passengers,” he continued.
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“He didn’t realize
at all that he was approaching the checkpoint. When he saw he was in
danger,
instead of moving forward, he stopped on the tracks.”
The train dragged
the minibus hundreds of meters down the track, eyewitnesses said.
Bukjin
recounted that “when [the ZAKA volunteers] realized the identity of the
deceased, they understood that we were dealing in a double tragedy as
far as
we’re concerned."
“Zaka volunteers are often called in to gruesome and
horrifying scenes, and the public probably considered us as tried and
tested and
immune to the pain of seeing tragedy unfold. But we are not immune to
pain, and
on the scene I saw a couple of the volunteers standing to the side and
shedding
a tear for our friend Aryeh,” he said.
According to Israel Police
Southern District head Cmdr. Yochanan Danino, who also came to the
crossing, the
accident was caused by the minibus driver, who broke through the
railroad
barrier despite it being down and despite the warning signals.
“As far as
we can tell, the minibus broke through the barrier and was hit by the
train. The
police will be conducting a thorough investigation to determine the
precise
cause of this tragic accident,” Danino said.
He added that initial
interviews with witnesses from the train, and with passengers from the
minibus
who were well enough to make statements, strengthened the suspicion that
the
driver had ignored the warnings.
Zaki Heller, a spokesman for Magen David
Adom, said it was one of the worst disasters the organization had dealt
with in
recent years.
According to Harel, the crash was unavoidable once the
minibus broke through the barrier.
“It takes a train moving at 130
kilometers per hour 700 m. to arrive at a complete stop. The train
driver
pressed the emergency brake as soon as he saw the vehicle on the track,
but was
unable to stop in time. There was nothing he could do,” he
said.
“Unfortunately, these types of accidents take place far too often
as a result of drivers ignoring the law,” Harel went on. “A complete
solution to
these collisions is constructing track overpasses, and these exist on
most of
the railroad crossings across the country. Indeed, such an overpass is
currently
being built on this exact interchange, but has yet to be completed. In
the
meantime, Israel Railways has a spotter on the track.
In any case,
drivers must adhere to the rules of the road.”
Israel Railways brought a
backup train for the remaining passengers.
As a result of the crash,
train traffic between Tel Aviv and Beersheba was halted. Israel Railways
hired
buses to replace train services.