Bus Carrying Religious Sect Crashes; 3 Die

Three people were killed and eight others seriously injured before dawn Monday when a tour bus packed with members of a Florida religious group careened off the Riverside Freeway and plunged down a steep embankment, California Highway Patrol officials said.

The bus was registered to a religious group called the Temple of Love and carried 22 male passengers dressed in white robes and turbans. It was at the end of a 16-vehicle caravan of buses and smaller vehicles bound for Miami that left Los Angeles at 3 a.m. in order to “beat the traffic,” said a spokesman for the group who identified himself only as Israel.

Bus driver Ahiezer Israel, who authorities said may have fallen asleep at the wheel, was thrown through the front windshield and killed when the bus ran over him. Also killed were passengers Neziah Israel, 14, and Ezekiel Israel, 34.

Treatment for Injuries

Adam Israel, 17, Giddel Israel, 25, David Israel, 17, Aushawlom Israel, 19, and Samuel Israel, 21, were rushed to Riverside Community Hospital for treatment of broken bones, internal injuries and cuts, hospital authorities said.

Three other passengers--Nehushtan Israel, 37, Seba Israel, 24, and Nawsawn Israel, 11--were taken to Riverside General Hospital, where they were treated for broken bones and lacerations, authorities said.

California Highway Patrol investigator David E. Waters said the accident occurred at about 4 a.m. when the white bus, emblazoned with the word “Yahweh” in bold black letters, “drifted off the right side of the roadway, struck a light pole and continued on for about 200 yards.”

The entire right side of the bus was torn off before it came to rest at the bottom of a steep embankment near downtown Riverside, leaving a trail of debris, twisted metal parts of the bus frame and personal articles along the freeway shoulder.

Gathering of Members

After the crash, the approximately 400 travelers in the caravan assembled in the parking lot of Riverside Community Hospital, where they huddled together in small groups and waited for word on the condition of the injured. Many of them clutched Bibles. All wore white robes and turbans.

“We’ll be praying for our members today and for their families,” spokesman Israel said. “We are all very distraught about this.”

Israel said they were “Hebrew Israelites and followers of Yahweh,” the Hebrew word for God, and all use the last name Israel. The all-black group, he said, is descended from African Jews brought to America as slaves. Most of the sect’s members are in Miami and Los Angeles, he said, but he declined to say how many belong to it.

Israel said the group had spent a week in Los Angeles, much of the time at the Temple of Love’s South-Central Los Angeles office. The members spent Sunday night at a convention at the Shrine Auditorium.

Prepared for Trip

During the convention, Israel said, “All of our drivers were required to lay down and sleep from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m.,” in preparation for the drive home.

Nonetheless, driver Ahiezer Israel “apparently was asleep” at the wheel, he said.

After notifying relatives of the dead and injured and making funeral arrangements, the group planned to resume their long journey home to Miami.