An annual pilgrimage turned deadly after tens of thousands packed the site of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai s tomb at Mount Meron in northern Israel.
In the early hours of Friday morning, men and children caught in a passage outside the tomb fell and were crushed in a stampede.
At least 44 died in what rescue workers called the worst civilian disaster in Israeli history.
As Yaara Chaimovich visited Meron hours before it became the scene of a deadly stampede, she said she had been looking forward to showing her children the beauty of the holy site. It s like Woodstock, she said, comparing the Lag BaOmer holiday to the US rock festival. Someone says a prayer, and everyone responds.
Friday, 30 Apr 2021 10:15 PM MYT
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men take part in a funeral ceremony in Jerusalem for a victim of an overnight stampede during a religious gathering in northern Israel, on April 30, 2021. AFP pic
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MERON (Israel), April 30 As Yaara Chaimovich visited Meron hours before it became the scene of a deadly stampede, she said she had been looking forward to showing her children “the beauty” of the holy site.
“It’s like Woodstock,” she said, comparing the Lag BaOmer holiday to the US rock festival. “Someone says a prayer, and everyone responds.”