44 People Crushed To Death In A Stampede At An Israeli Religious Festival

A stampede that occurred at a religious festival is attended by tens of thousands of ultra-orthodox Jews in Northern Israel has killed at least 44 people and has injured some 150 others on early Friday, as stated by the medical officials in one of the country’s deadliest civilian disasters.

The stampede reportedly occurred during the celebrations of Lag BaOmer at Mount Meron. Tens of thousands of people who are mostly ultra-Orthodox gather every year to honor Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, a second-century sage and mystic who has been buried there. Large crowds light bonfires, pray, and dance as part of the big celebration.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has referred to the stampeded as a great tragedy and said that everyone was praying for the victims.

The media estimated the crowd at about 100000 people and videos were posted on social media that showed scores of black-clad ultra-orthodox men walking through narrow passages to the site.

The photos showed rows of wrapped bodies lying on the ground afterward with dozens of ambulances present at the site. The Haaretz daily quoted the witnesses as saying that the police barricades had prevented the people from exiting quickly.

Director of the Hatzalah rescue service, Eli Beer said that he was horrified by the way the crowd of the event was and said that the site was equipped to handle perhaps a quarter of the number that was present there.

Close to 40 people lost their lives as a result of this unfortunate tragedy.

By Friday morning, Zaka, another ambulance service said that the death toll had risen to 44. Spokesman Motti Bukchin said that the families were being notified and the bodies were thereby being taken to a single location for identification. He added that the expected bodies are to be buried before the sundown of the Jewish Sabbath when the funerals do not take place.

The count of death almost matched the number of people who were killed in a 2010 forest fire which is so far believed to be the deadliest civilian tragedy in the country’s history.

The stampede occurred after midnight and the cause was not clear. Some witnesses said that a row of people had tripped on some stairs that caused the other people to fall and initiate the stampede.

A witness named Dvir reported that masses of people were being pushed into the same corner and a vortex was created. He further described the horrifying sight saying that a row of people fell and he was in the next row of people that tripped and felt that he was about to die.

Zaki Heller, another spokesman for the Magen David Adom rescue service said that 150 people had been hospitalized, with six in critical condition. He said that no one had ever dreamt of something like this and in one moment everyone went from being happy to experience immense tragedy.

Sources report that the health authorities had warned against holding such a large gathering.