(Click HERE for more pictures of this horrific accident.) A year has already passed since a tragic accident took place thousands of miles away in Chile. It was also a communal tragedy, an event that made the national news and one whose echoes were magnified by the fact that 10 of the 12 people who died in a tour bus accident in Chile March 22 were residents of the same retirement community in Monroe, New Jersey.
The victims were on a 14-day South American trip with Celebrity Cruises. They had taken an excursion to a national park and were on a 16-passenger bus headed back to their ship, the Millennium, docked 28 miles away near the coastal city of Arica, when their tour bus plunged hundreds of feet down a hillside in the Andes Mountains.
Rabbi Isaac Leider from Chesed Shel Emmes quickly traveled to Chile to personally expedite the complete identification and recovery of all 12 victims and provide a proper Jewish Burial.
Killed were Arthur Kovar, 77, and his wife, Frieda, 74; Robert Rubin, 72, and his wife, Barbara, 69; Marvin Bier, 79, and his wife, Shirley, 76; Hans and Maria Eggers, both 72; Carole Ruchelman, 64, whose husband, Harold, 68, was injured; and Marian Diamond, 75, whose husband, Bernard, 76, was also injured. Also killed were Ira Greenfield, 68, and his wife Linda, 63, of Stamford, Conn.
How terribly sad.May their neshomos have an aliyah. I remember this story. Whats also sad is the fact that nobody is compelled to submit a comment about this tragedy but to scream and rant and rave about cholov stam seems to be high on their agenda.Shame on all of you.
Mikedrezz,
This is the third or fourth comment to this effect; I will offer my reply. I do NOT comment on tragedies or the passing of Yidden as reported on YW. I feel heartbroken; I look inward as to how I may improve. Sometimes I shed tears. But this type of news is not, for me, a “commentors forum”. It’s to read, do introspection, and feel the tragedy.
Other than those who type in messages conveying “BDE” (which I am not putting down; it’s just not something I personally do on a blog), there is little to SAY. There is much to feel, and perhaps to do.
I speak for myself when I say I prefer to comment and dialogue on IDEAS rather than news- perhaps there are many others who feel the same. A tragedy affects us all, and registering a “comment” on the thread does not evidence a greater degree of empathy, sadness, or sensitivity.
I’m jealous of the zaka volunteers zechusim…
ATTENTION: mikedrezz
Sometimes silence says more than words.
Think about that .