Dozens of children injured in bus accident near Bet Shemesh

The bus careened off of route 38 near Bet Shemesh and into a ditch.

By World Israel News Staff

Dozens of children were injured, with two seriously hurt, when a bus overturned near Bet Shemesh on Wednesday afternoon.

The bus, which careened off of route 38, was carrying around 30 children, aged between 8 to 12, members of the religious Ariel youth group, who were returning from an activity.

The Magen David Adom (MDA) rescue service reported that aside from the two children with serious injuries, one child sustained moderate injuries, while the rest were lightly injured. The injured children were evacuated to Shaare Zedek and Hadassah Ein Kerem hospitals in Jerusalem for medical attention.

The cause of the accident initially remained unclear.

“We promptly reached the scene to find the bus overturned, lying on its side in a ditch adjacent to the road,” paramedic Oshri Adri said.

“Every passenger had exited the bus, with the majority managing to get out unassisted while others were rescued; this included the driver and children aged between 8 to 12, all of whom were fully conscious. We conducted a preliminary assessment of the passengers, identifying two children who had sustained severe injuries. … Immediate first aid was administered before swiftly evacuating them to the hospital in serious condition. Upon arrival at the trauma room, one of the children was placed on a ventilator.”

Earlier this year, a bus transporting several schoolchildren, collided with a truck in central Israel, resulting in injuries to dozens of children, one of them seriously.

In a tragic accident in 2021 in northern Israel, five people died when a bus was involved in a multi-vehicle collision.