We deeply regret to announce the deaths of Mrs. Mae Weissenberg, of the staff of the PBS Director of Programmes, and Mr. Adeeb Mansour, on the Control-Room engineering staff at the Jerusalem studios, as a result of the bomb outrage in Broadcasting House on Wednesday afternoon.
While Mrs. Weissenberg's injuries were at first considered to be not dangerous, it is understood she died as a result of secondary shock shortly before 2 o'clock yesterday morning. She had been operated upon at Government Hospital on Wednesday night when splinters and fragments of metal were removed. Her husband, who had been in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, was at the bedside.
Mr. Mansour succumbed after a major operation in which both his legs were amputated.
Further particulars of the outrage in Broadcasting House show that the Arabic Children's Hour was due to begin at 5.30 and preparations were being made at the time of the explosion. The programme was a selection of new songs and other music arranged by Yusuf Batruni for a group of child players, and at the first detonation in the control room there were 25 Arab childrenin the adjacent studio. They were immediately escorted to safety.
Members of the staff who rushed into the control room where Mrs. Weisenberg was injured removed her to the main hall on the next floor, but had to move her again at once as the second explosion damaged part of the ceiling.
While Mrs. Weissenberg was being placed in the ambulance, Mr. Mansour courageously returned to see what was happening in the control room, and whether anyone had been injured. It was in the performance of this duty that he was fatally hurt in a third explosion.
Broadcasting House was still closed yesterday, and provisional arrangements were made from broadcasting the news bulletins from a room in the General Post Office. Records were also played last night from the Ramallah transmitting station.
No statement has yet been made by the police authorities on the progress of investigations, nor as to the manner in which the time bombs were smuggled into the premises always under the strict vigilance of the police guards.