"I saw the first explosion and I didn't imagine that it would also happen to my bus," said Yakov Cohen, 43, the No. 6 driver, who said he slammed on his brakes to distance his bus from the explosion ahead and opened the bus's doors to allow his passengers to flee. "The explosion on my bus was 20 seconds later."
Nissin Vakanin, 65, a barber on his way home from work, was standing near the center of the No. 6 bus when the blast roared through the chassis. Minutes earlier he had given up his front-row seat to a middle-aged woman. As he lurched through the charred and smoldering interior of the bus, he glanced at the seat he had given up.
People wounded in the bombings in Beersheba are evacuated from the scene. The militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the attacks.
(Reuters)
|
_____At the Scene_____
•
Video: Two buses exploded almost simultaneously in southern Israel on Tuesday.
|
| |
|
"I saw her dead," said Vakanin, whose peach-colored shirt was splattered with blood and bits of flesh. "I saw the body of the guy next to her and it was all ripped up. Then I realized he was the suicide bomber.
"My conscience is not quiet," continued Vakanin, who was lightly wounded. "I feel guilty that she died and not me."
An hour after the explosion, a head lay in the aisle of the bus about four feet behind the driver's seat. The torso of a victim slumped on the floor nearby. Body parts were scattered across the blackened interior. Fruits and vegetables and diapers from passengers' shopping trips were flung across the bus and out the windows. A pink sandal lay on the top of the step inside the bus.
Ninety-seven survivors were admitted to the Soroka Medical Center, about half a mile from the site of the explosions, according to the center's deputy director, Arnon Wiznitzer. About two dozen people were in serious condition with burns and internal injuries, he said. Dozens more were lightly wounded and at least 15 were suffering psychological trauma.
The construction of the barrier complex of fences and walls, which encompasses sections of the West Bank, has been the focus of criticism by European governments and human rights organizations that say its path is based more on politics than security. Israel's Supreme Court recently ruled that some segments of the barrier impose undue hardship on Palestinians and should be rerouted.
But Israeli officials say the expanding fence line and military operations have brought about the decline in suicide bombings inside Israel. Nine bombing missions have been carried out so far this year, killing 50 people, compared with 23 suicide operations that killed 139 people last year. At the height of the conflict, in 2002, 228 people died in suicide bombings.
Researchers Samuel Sockol and Hillary Claussen in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
