December 12, 1947 Murder on British Airways Bus in Lydda

A British Airways bus was attacked and burned today at the Arab town of Lydda with the loss of at least four and probably ten lives including one Czech airline official who was the first foreign victim of the thirteen days of violence here.

The bus left the Lydda airport just before 2 p.m. with ten passengers.  It was halted by two civilian trucks barring the road at Lydda and boarded by Arabs who removed the Arab driver and took the vehicle away.  Burned out, the bus was later found in a lane nearby with four charred bodies inside.  The other passengers were believed to be two Jews and four Arabs.

The Czech involved was the Mideast director of the Czechoslovak Airline”

Source: New York Times, December 13, 1947