Dozens Of People Including Children Trampled To Death During Religious Festival

One of the deadliest civilian disasters in the history of Israel occurred at Mount Meron on Friday. Israeli officials issued a statement that a stampede broke out during the festival of Lag BaOmer killing at least 40 and injuring over 100 more.

The Jewish religious festival attracted tens of thousands from the ultra-Orthodox community. The deadly stampede occurred when the attendees of the festival tripped on steps causing a huge domino effect that sent many people to fall over.

Police sources informed that there were over 100,000 people at the location during the incident while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu classified the incident as a “terrible disaster.”

לכבוד התנא: עשרות אלפים בהדלקה המרכזית של תולדות אהרן שמרעידה את הההר מצד לצד pic.twitter.com/b2pMQsXv1z

— משה ויסברג (@moshe_nayes) April 29, 2021

Eli Beer, director of the Hatzalah rescue service, said he was horrified by how crowded the event was, saying the site was equipped to handle perhaps a quarter of the number who were there.

One witness told the Army Radio station that “masses of people were pushed into the same corner and a vortex was created.”

He said the first row of people fell down, and then a second row, where he was standing, also began to fall down from the pressure of the stampede.

“I felt like I was about to die,” he said.

Even children were among the casualties. Rescuers reported that there were dozens of children whose parents were not answering the phone after the incident.