Dozens crushed to death at religious festival in Israel
- Health officials say at least 45 people killed, dozens more wounded in stampede at religious festival
- Jewish worshippers had travelled to Mount Meron to mark the Lag B’Omer holiday
Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews had thronged to the Galilee tomb of second-century sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai for annual Lag B’Omer commemorations that include all-night prayer, mystical songs and dance.
Witnesses said many of the dead were caught in a tightly packed passageway around 3 metres wide after crowds packed the slopes of Mount Meron in northern Israel in defiance of warnings to maintain social distancing against Covid-19.
Doctors said there had been a stampede in the men’s section of the gender-segregated festival. Casualties included children.
Many of the dead had yet to be identified and police asked family members to provide pictures and personal information of those who attended the festival and were still missing to help with the process.
Videos posted on social media showed ultra-Orthodox men clambering desperately through gaps in sheets of torn corrugated iron to escape the crush. Bodies lay on stretchers in a corridor, covered in foil blankets.
