At least 44 killed in stampede at Israeli religious festival
At least 44 people died and 103 were injured in the stampede, the Magen David Adom rescue service and a hospital source said. Witnesses said the dead included children.
“We have 38 dead at the scene but there are more at the hospital,” an MDA spokesman said, while a source at the northern Ziv hospital said they had received at least six fatalities.
Videos posted on social media showed chaotic scenes as Ultra-Orthodox men clambered through gaps in sheets of torn corrugated iron to escape the crush, as police and paramedics tried to reach the wounded.
Bodies lay on stretchers in a corridor, completely covered in foil blankets.
The ecstatic crowds congregated despite warnings by health officials to avoid presenting COVID-19 risks. Witnesses said people were asphyxiated or trampled in a passageway, some going unnoticed until the PA system sounded an appeal to disperse.
Police shut down the site and ordered revellers to be evacuated by bus. The Transportation Ministry halted roadworks in the area to enable ambulances and pilgrims’ buses to move unhindered. Military helicopters ferried some casualties to hospitals.
On Twitter, Netanyahu called it a “heavy disaster” and added: “We are all praying for the wellbeing of the casualties.” The gathering had been held in defiance of health officials who had worries that crowding could pose a COVID-19 risk.
The sheer number of people at the annual Mount Meron event – a reported 100,000 – made it difficult for emergency services to operate.
