ULTRA-Orthodox Jews attend the funeral of a victim of the stampede at a cemetery in Petah Tikva on Friday. AFP
MERON (Israel): A massive stampede at a densely packed Jewish pilgrimage site killed at least 44 people in Israel on Friday, blackening the country’s largest Covid-era gathering.
The nighttime disaster struck after pilgrims thronged to Meron at the site of the reputed tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, a second-century Talmudic sage, where mainly ultra-Orthodox Jews mark the Lag BaOmer holiday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was helicoptered in to the scene in Israel’s far north, said the “Mount Meron disaster” was “one of the worst to befall” the country since its foundation seven decades ago.
44 killed in stampede at Israel’s Jewish pilgrimage site
Top Story
May 1, 2021
MERON: A massive stampede at a densely packed Jewish pilgrimage site killed at least 44 people in Israel on Friday, blackening the country’s largest Covid-era gathering.
The nighttime disaster struck after pilgrims thronged to Meron at the site of the reputed tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, a second-century Talmudic sage, where mainly ultra-Orthodox Jews mark the Lag BaOmer holiday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was helicoptered in to the scene in Israel’s far north, said the “Mount Meron disaster” was “one of the worst to befall” the country since its foundation seven decades ago. “What happened here is heartbreaking. There were people crushed to death, including children,” he tweeted.
Israel stampede was disaster waiting to happen: More than 100,000 crammed into site despite reports from 2008 and 2011 warning it posed danger to human life and capacity shouldn t exceed 15,000 - as Orthodox community lays victims to rest
Ex-comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss, who wrote a report from 13 years ago, warned of dangers to human life
A separate report two years later, in 2011, also said: The existing situation must be immediately changed
First victims of Israeli festival crush identified as funerals got underway in keeping with Orthodox tradition
Among dead include singer from Canada, a nine-year-old boy and his brother, two Americans and father-of-11
In total, 45 people were killed and 150 were wounded, some critically, during Lag B Omer at Mount Meron
British victim of Israel stampede: 24-year-old man from Manchester is named among the 45 people killed in crush amid claims Orthodox Jewish leaders put pressure on organisers NOT to limit numbers at festival
Insiders claimed there was political pressure on police to hold the event at any cost ahead of deadly crush
Reports say the head of Shas, a Haredi religious political party in Israel, asked there to be no limit of numbers
A total of 45 people were killed in the stampede at Mount Meron, Israel on Thursday, with at least 150 injured
Moshe Bergman, from Manchester,