Israel festival stampede: Victims identified after 45 killed at religious event

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The victims of the Lag B’Omer festival stampede have begun to be identified as Israel comes to terms with one of the worst peace-time disasters in the country’s history.

Among those killed were two pairs of brothers: Yosef and Moshe Elhadad, 18 and 12, and Moshe and Joshua Englander, aged 14 and 9; Shraga Gestetner, a rabbi and signer from Montreal; two Americans: Yosef Amram Tauber, from New York, and 26-year-old Eliezer Tzvi Yoza’af; and Shimon Matalon, 38, a father-of-11. 

Funerals immediately got underway in keeping with Orthodox tradition, with large crowds taking to the streets of Jerusalem to honour Rabbi Eliezer Goldberg, a 37-year-old father-of-four, with ceremonies in Bnei Brak for Menahem Zeckbach, who leaves behind a pregnant wife and one-year-old child, and Moshe Ben Shalom, 20.

In total, 45 people were crushed to death during Lag B’Omer festivities at Mount Meron in northern Israel overnight Thursday as worshippers tripped and fell on a packed staircase before others piled on top of them due to the sheer weight of bodies.

At least 150 were hurt including six in critical,  18 seriously hurt, eight in moderate condition, and 80 lightly injured – though some Israeli media reported up to 28 in critical.  

Some witnesses said police barriers had blocked or restricted an exit from the festival site, leading to a deadly ‘domino effect’ – described by one witness as a ‘human avalanche’.  

‘There were just more and more and more people,’ one witness told local station KAN ‘I remember that I lay on top of someone. He wasn’t breathing.

‘There were screams; a mess. Each one trying to get out from the other, but they didn’t succeed in getting anyone out because it was a puzzle. I saw people, children, under me.’

But police sought to downplay blame, amid calls for an inquiry. Officers pointed out that up to 100,000 people had attended the festival, which is far fewer than in previous years but far more than had been anticipated this year amid ongoing Covid restrictions. 

Cops had warned of over-crowding even before the stampede took place, telling late-comers to stay away.

Parts of the site, including an area where traditional bonfires are held, had been limited to just 10,000 this year with barriers in place to try and restrict the numbers.  

Gatherings elsewhere in Israel are still limited to 100 people, but an exception had been granted for Lag B’Omer – a festival celebrating the life of 2nd century sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai – which was the largest event to have been allowed in Israel since Covid restrictions started to ease following the country’s world-beating vaccine drive.

During lockdown, there had been friction between the Israeli government and Orthodox Jewish community which continued to hold mass events despite the restrictions – including the funerals of two rabbis back in January. 

Today, Queen Elizabeth II sent the following message of condolence to the President of Israel Reuven Rivlin: ‘I was deeply saddened by news of the disaster at the Lag B’Omer festival in Meron, Israel. My thoughts are with all those who have been injured, and the friends and families of those who lost their lives. They have my deepest sympathies.’

As Israel came to grips with the tragedy today…

• Families separated from their loved ones amid the crush launched desperate online appeals for news, with an American – identified as Daniel Morris, from New Jersey – among the missing
• A blame game began as festival attendees accused police of erecting barriers which led to the crush, while officers deflected blame amid calls for an independent inquiry 
• Families were called to forensic hospitals near the festival site to help identify the bodies of those killed as medics warned that many will be unaware their relatives are dead
• Witnesses described hearing the phones of those killed and injured in the disaster ringing as mobile phone services – which broke down amid the chaos – were slowly restored
• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led Israeli politicians paying tribute to the victims before travelling to the site to pay his respects, where he declared a day of national mourning
• Messages of condolence poured in from around the world as foreign ministers of Germany, Australia, the EU, Ukraine, India and other nations paid tribute to those killed and injured 

Northern District Commander Shimon Lavi, who signed off on security at the festival, said he was willing to take ‘full responsibility’ as calls for an independent probe mounted, but added that the crush was ‘definitely not’ the responsibility of individual officers who he praised for going into the crowd to help the wounded and dying. 

On Twitter, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a ‘heavy disaster’ and added: ‘We are all praying for the wellbeing of the casualties.’  

Israeli rescue service Magen David Adom said over 250 ambulances and helicopters had been called to the site to help rescue the wounded, including helicopters of the Israeli Air Force. 

The chaos was further compounded when mobile phone services set up at the site crashed, leaving people unable to call for help and separating children from their parents.

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.

Closed last year due to coronavirus restrictions, this year’s pilgrimage drew tens of thousands of people who were seen packed together joyfully singing, dancing and lighting bonfires before the deadly crush.

In a cruel irony, the B’Omer holiday celebrates the end of a plague that killed thousands of Talmudic students at the time of Rabbi Bar Yochai.

‘This year, as we continue to inch closer to the end of a modern-day plague, I encourage everyone to find meaning and joy in celebrating the end of a different plague that occurred many years ago,’ a rabbi wrote in the Jerusalem Post before Friday’s tragedy.

Shachar Ba’al Haness, 19, a survivor of the crush, told The Times of Israel that he was among those that fell to the floor in the crush but remained conscious even as those around him were crushed to death.

‘I saw all the bodies. I saw bodies on me, under me. I thought I was going to die,’ he said.

‘We were going in to see the bonfire lighting, suddenly there was a wave coming out. Our bodies were swept along by themselves. People were thrown up in the air, others were crushed on the ground,’ David, a survivor, told the Ynet news site.

‘There was a kid there who kept pinching my leg, fighting for his life. We waited to be rescued for 15-20 minutes in this crazy, terrible crush. it was awful.’

‘A policeman pulled me out,’ Meir, who was lightly injured, told Ynet from his hospital bed. ‘He protected me and made sure I would not be trampled on until I was evacuated.’

‘It felt like an eternity, the dead were all around us.’

‘We were walking out, everything was flowing, suddenly it stopped,’ a survivor identified as Zohar told Channel 12. 

‘Everyone was pressed up against each other and we did not understand why. I lifted up my head and I saw police blocking the entrance, I shouted to them “people are dying here.”‘

‘People lost the color in their faces,’ said Zohar. ‘I was under the bleachers, I tried to go up toward all the chaos when I heard banging above, thud, thud, and people shouting “escape, escape, people are dying.”‘

‘People fell from above and crushed each other, they squashed each other. people just fell, I will never forget the banging sounds, people flying all over,’ he said. 

Witnesses pointed a finger of blame at police.

‘There is an iron ramp going down from the site of a bonfire… It was very crowded… people had to walk down on this ramp in order to exit,’ said Shmuel, an 18-year-old.

The police ‘closed it (the ramp). Then, more people arrived, and more and more… and police wouldn’t let them exit, so people started to fall on top of each other’, he told AFP.

They ‘didn’t open it (the passageway) until it crashed and all the crowd was blown away to the sides. Tens of people were crushed’.  

Motti Bukchin, ZAKA paramedic volunteer at the site told the Mail Online: ‘I have worked with ZAKA for 23 years. Never have I witnessed such a scene so horrific, of such magnitude. 

‘There were bodies everywhere, paramedics administering CPR, so many children, so many people without identifying details on them. 

‘Families came to celebrate and now, their loved ones will return home in body bags. This is beyond comprehension.’ 

Jay Shultz, 44 from Tel Aviv, added: ‘We were at the height of ecstasy and joy, dancing at the largest gathering of Jewish people worldwide. 

‘Then, suddenly, there were ambulances, stretchers, and bonfires were being extinguished as we had moved from happiness to tragedy. 

‘Quickly, the music turned off, and I saw rescue workers carrying away dead and injured.’

‘Earlier I had noticed police were erecting barriers in places they don’t normally put them, seemingly for crowd control. But these create pressure and meant the normal ebb and flow of people was not possible, and when there is more concentration of people this is when tragedy can happen.’

Ten thousand people had been authorised to attend the tomb compound, but Israeli media outlets said 90,000 massed at the site, a figure that could not be immediately confirmed from official sources.

‘There were 38 dead at the scene but there were more at the hospital,’ Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said, adding 150 were injured, including six in serious condition.

Another six deaths were recorded at the north’s Ziv hospital.

‘It took me back to the period of (Palestinian militant) bombings. There was chaos, people trying to save themselves as they crushed each other,’ Dov Maisel of the United Hatzala rescue services told army radio. 

With the launch of an inquiry into the disaster, the regional police chief told reporters: ‘I, Shimon Lavi… take upon myself the overall responsibility, for good and for bad, and I am ready for every inspection’.

The army and emergency services deployed helicopters to evacuate the wounded.

Scenes from Meron hours after the accident showed an ultra-Orthodox Jewish crowd in distress, the men in long black coats and wearing black hats, and debris scattered across the ground.

Survivors lit candles for the victims while others prayed. A row of bodies covered in plastic bags on the ground.

‘I have not seen anything like this since I entered into the field of emergency medicine,’ said Lazar Hyman of the United Hatzalah volunteer rescue service.  

Yehuda Gottleib, a first responder from United Hatzalah, said he saw ‘dozens of people fall on top of one another during the collapse’.

‘A large number of them were crushed and lost consciousness.’

The injured were flown by helicopter to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, where funerals were to be held later Friday.

Britain, France and the European Union offered their condolences.

‘Devastating scenes… in Israel. My thoughts are with the Israeli people and those who have lost loved ones in this tragedy,’ British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted.

In a statement, France sought to assure ‘the Israeli people of its deep solidarity in this ordeal’.

‘We wish you strength and courage to get through these difficult times,’ tweeted European Council President Charles Michel.

Israel has fully vaccinated more than half of its 9.3 million population against the coronavirus, but restrictions on massive public gatherings remain in place to stem the spread of the virus.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews, known in Israel as haredim, have throughout the pandemic shown resistance towards health and safety measures mandated by the government.

Around 5,000 police had been deployed to secure the event.

After the stampede, police closed access to the area to prevent a crowd from building further, while rescue workers and security forces worked to clear the area and identify victims.