Six schoolchildren were killed and approximately 36 others were injured in a traffic accident between a bus and a truck in Jerusalem on Thursday. Three people were reported to be seriously injured, including an adult.
The truck involved in the accident near Kikar Adam in northern Jerusalem had an Israeli license plate while the bus carrying the children had a Palestinian license plate
According to Magen David Adom, the bus overturned at the side of the road and caught fire.
"Firefighters began to take bodies out of the bus. We saw there was nothing more to be done," said Shalom Galil, a paramedic at the scene.
He told Israel Radio that it appeared the two vehicles had collided head-on in the rain on a "very steep and slippery road" near Jerusalem.
The injured were evacuated by Israeli and Palestinian paramedics to Hadassah University Medical Center on Jerusalem’s Mount Scopus and to Palestinian hospitals. Magen David Adom paramedics remained in contact with Palestinian hospitals in the Ramallah area and the Palestinian Red Crescent in order to bring injured schoolchildren to Israeli hospitals.
Three children were being transferred from Hadassah University Medical Center on Jerusalem’s Mount Scopus to the hospital’s facilities in Ein Kerem, suffering from burns on 70% of their bodies. 36 injured children arrived at Palestinian hospitals in the Ramallah area.
The truck driver, an Israeli Arab, is being treated at hospital and is due to be questioned by police.
Israeli and Palestinian emergency services are still at the scene. "We are investigating the cause of the accident," spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
The commander of the Judea and Samaria police arrived on the scene to view the accident site.