Bus bomb in Bat Yam
Bus bomb in Bat YamFlash 90

Passengers on a bus in Bat Yam where a bomb exploded Sunday afternoon attributed the fact that no one was killed to a miracle. Police said that based on their initial investigation, the explosion on the number 240 bus from Bnai Brak to Bat Yam was due to a bomb placed by Arab terrorists.

One person – a police bomb squad officer – was injured as he approached a suspicious package on the bus. A spokesperson for the Dan Bus Company said that there twelve passengers on the bus when a passenger alerted the driver that there was a suspicious object on board. The object was in a bag, which one of the passengers opened. Noticing there were wires coming out of the bag, the passenger alerted the driver, who immediately evacuated the passengers.

Witnesses said that there was a gaping hole in the back third of the bus, indicating that the explosive device was a large one. “Imagine if the bus had been full, or if the driver had not taken everyone off the bus, or if everyone had ignored the bag,” said one witness. “It was a miracle everyone was saved.”

The police officer who was hurt when the bomb went off was lightly injured, police said. The device exploded as he went on the bus, and he was injured by flying shrapnel which hit him as was entering the bus.

The driver of the bus, Michael Yoger, told reporters that “a woman told me that there was an unattended bag on the bus. I asked who it belonged to, but no one answered, and when I realized that it had just been left there I took all the passengers off the bus. Within ten minutes the bomb exploded.

“The bag was large,” said Yoger. “One of the passengers opened it and saw wires. It was definitely a miracle that we were all saved.”