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By Maayan Lubell
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -U.S. citizens are among the dozens killed and injured in a stampede at a religious festival in Israel, the U.S. Embassy said on Saturday, as criticism mounted in the wake of one of the biggest civilian disasters in the country s history.
At least 45 people were crushed to death and more than 100 injured at the ultra-Orthodox Jewish festival on the slopes of Israel s Mount Meron, held overnight between Thursday and Friday.
The exact cause of the disaster is still not clear but witness accounts and videos posted on social media suggested that some people had fallen down stairs leading out of a narrow passageway packed by hundreds of worshippers trying to exit the site, as a surge of people came down upon those ahead of them who had fallen, being trampled and asphyxiated.
People light candles during a vigil in Habima Square in Tel Aviv on Saturday, May 1, 2021, a day after a deadly stampede left dozens dead and injured in a northern Jewish pilgrimage town. Photo by JACK GUEZ /AFP via Getty Images
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JERUSALEM U.S. citizens are among the dozens killed and injured in a stampede at a religious festival in Israel, the U.S. Embassy said on Saturday, as criticism mounted in the wake of one of the biggest civilian disasters in the country’s history.
At least 45 people were crushed to death and more than 100 injured at the ultra-Orthodox Jewish festival on the slopes of Israel’s Mount Meron, held overnight between Thursday and Friday.
By Maayan Lubell
JERUSALEM, May 1 (Reuters) - U.S. citizens are among the dozens killed and injured in a stampede at a religious festival in Israel, the U.S. Embassy said on Saturday, as criticism mounted in the wake of one of the biggest civilian disasters in the country s history.
At least 45 people were crushed to death and more than 100 injured at the ultra-Orthodox Jewish festival on the slopes of Israel s Mount Meron, held overnight between Thursday and Friday.
The exact cause of the disaster is still not clear, but witness accounts and videos posted on social media suggested that some people had fallen down stairs leading out of a narrow passageway packed by hundreds of worshippers trying to exit the site, as a surge of people came down upon those ahead of them who had fallen, being trampled and asphyxiated.