Updated: Apr 30 2021, 18:27 ET
Invalid Date,
TWO pairs of young brothers were among the 45 victims of the devastating Lag B Omer festival stampede as panicked crowds funnelled into a tiny death trap tunnel.
The disaster unfolded in Meron, Israel, shortly after midnight as Jewish worshippers were left gasping for air and others were crushed to death, with funerals already underway for victims.
20
Mourners carry the body of Shragee Gestetner, a Canadian singer who died during Lag BaOmer celebrationsCredit: AP
20
20
20
20
20
20
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish mourners carry the body of a victim during a funeral ceremony in JerusalemCredit: AFP
As survivors tell of the horrific scenes, the names of two pairs of young brothers who died in the incident have been revealed.
Stampede at Israeli religious festival kills at least 44
Israeli officials carry the body of a stampede victim in northern Israel on Friday.
(Associated Press)
JERUSALEM
A stampede at a religious festival attended by tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews in northern Israel killed at least 44 people and injured some 150 others early Friday, medical officials said, in one of the country’s deadliest civilian disasters.
The stampede occurred during the celebrations of Lag BaOmer at Mt. Meron. Tens of thousands of people, mostly ultra-Orthodox Jews, gather each year to honor Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, a 2nd century sage and mystic who is buried there. Large crowds traditionally light bonfires, pray and dance as part of the celebrations.
2399
Jerusalem, April 30
In one of the worst peacetime tragedies in Israel, at least 44 people were crushed to death and about 150 others injured in a stampede overnight at an overcrowded Jewish religious gathering in the country s north attended by tens of thousands of people flouting the coronavirus-related restrictions.
The mass gathering was organised to celebrate the Lag B Omer, an annual religious holiday marked with all-night bonfires, prayer and dancing, at Mount Meron.
The town is the site of the tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, a second-century sage, and is considered to be one of the holiest sites in the Jewish world.
The director of an Israeli ambulance service has confirmed that nearly 40 people died in a stampede at a religious festival in northern Israel. Eli Beer, director of Hatzalah, said he was shocked by the size of the crowd at the Lag BaOmer celebrations at Mount Meron. Police were quoted as saying some 100,000 people were there. He told Army Radio that there were four to five times the number of people that should have entered a location like this. ?Close to 40 people died as a result of this
It was the first huge religious gathering of its kind to be held legally since Israel lifted nearly all restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic.