Bus driver charged after 24 Russians die in bus crash

An Israeli bus driver has today been charged with manslaughter after 24 Russian tourists were killed when his bus plummeted into a desert gorge late last year.

The death toll in the December 2008 accident was the highest in Israeli history. Dozens of other passengers were wounded.

Court documents filed by Israeli prosecutors today charge Edward Gelfond with recklessly causing the accident by speeding and passing another bus on a dangerous road near the Israeli Red Sea resort town of Eilat.

The driver was transporting a group of Russian tour guides from St Petersburg when he lost control of the bus, which flew off the road and rolled into a deep gully.

Many of the passengers were killed when they were thrown out of the bus.