Friday, April 30, 2021

Dozens killed in stampede at Israeli religious bonfire festival | CTV News

Dozens of people were killed in a stampede at a religious bonfire festival in Israel on Friday, medics said, in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a "heavy disaster."

Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews had thronged to the Galilee tomb of 2nd-century sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai for annual Lag B'Omer commemorations that include all-night prayer, mystical songs and dance.

The ecstatic crowds packed the Mount Meron slope in defiance of COVID-19 warnings by health officials. Witnesses said people were asphyxiated or trampled in a passageway, some going unnoticed until the PA system sounded an appeal to disperse...

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  1. Dozens of people were crushed to death in a crowd at a religious bonfire festival in Israel on Friday, medics said, in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a “heavy disaster.”

    The crush occurred as tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews thronged to the Galilee tomb of 2nd-century sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai for annual Lag B’Omer commemorations that include all-night prayer, mystical songs and dance.

    Witnesses said people were asphyxiated or trampled in a tightly packed passageway, some going unnoticed until the PA system sounded an appeal to disperse, as crowds packed the Mount Meron slope in defiance of Covid-19 warnings.

    Helicopters had ferried injured people to hospitals in northern Israel, the Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance service said. The Israeli military said search and rescue troops and medical teams were scrambled.

    Ambulance officials described the incident as a stampede and said 103 people had been injured, including dozens fatally. Channel 12 put the number of dead at 40. These included children, witnesses said.

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    1. At least 44 people were killed and 103 injured in a stampede after midnight Thursday at an Israeli festival attended by tens of thousands of people, local media reported.

      The tragedy happened in Mount Meron in northern Israel, during the festival celebrated every year on the eve of the Jewish holiday Lag BaOmer.

      According to estimates by the Israeli media, about 100,000 people, most of them ultra-Orthodox Jews, participated in the festival this time.

      Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on Twitter, "A heavy disaster on Mount Meron. We are all praying for the healing of the injured. I want to strengthen the rescue crews operating there."

      Israeli President Reuven Rivlin also tweeted, "In-great concern I follow the reports from Meron and pray for the healing of the wounded. May God heal them."

      It was first speculated that the tragedy was caused by the collapse of a stand, but Israeli ambulance service Magen David Adom (MDA) later said it was caused by crowding.

      The MDA added that the wounded were evacuated, some of them by helicopters, to four hospitals in northern Israel and Jerusalem.

      United Hatzalah emergency medical service said that dozens of resuscitations were carried out at the site by the organization's volunteers.

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