At least 44 people have been killed after a stampede at a religious bonfire festival in Israel.
Medics say some 150 others have been injured in one of the country’s deadliest civilian disasters.
The stampede occurred during the celebrations of Lag BaOmer at Mount Meron, where tens of thousands of mostly ultra-Orthodox Jewsish worshipers 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.
Officials said the event was attended by around 100,000 people and that the site was equipped to handle just a quarter of the number who were there.
Footage on social media showed chaotic scenes as men clambered through gaps in sheets of torn corrugated iron – trying to escape the crush.
One witness told the Army Radio station that he felt like he was about to die – and said ‘masses of people were pushed into the same corner and a vortex was created’.
Photos showed rows of wrapped bodies lying on the ground afterward, with dozens of ambulances at the site.
The Haaretz daily quoted witnesses as saying police barricades had prevented people from exiting quickly.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the stampede a ‘great tragedy’ and ‘heavy disaster’, adding that everyone was praying for the victims.
The stampede happened after midnight and its cause was not immediately clear.
Witnesses said a row of people had tripped on some stairs, causing other people to fall and sparking the stampede.
‘Masses of people were pushed into the same corner and a vortex was created,’ a witness, identified only by his first name Dvir, told Army radio.
He described a terrifying sight as the first row of people fell down and said he was in the next row of people that tripped.
‘I felt like I was about to die,’ he said.
Zaki Heller, spokesman for the Magen David Adom rescue service, said 150 people had been hospitalized, with six in critical condition.
Heller said ‘no one had ever dreamed’ something like this could happen.
‘In one moment, we went from a happy event to an immense tragedy,’ he said.
The Israeli military said it had dispatched medics and search and rescue teams along with helicopters to assist.
It was the first huge religious gathering to be held legally since Israel lifted nearly all restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic.
The country has seen cases plummet since launching one of the world’s most successful vaccination campaigns late last year.
Health authorities had nevertheless warned against holding such a large gathering.
More to follow
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