Original report: Eli Beer, director of Hatzalah, said the size of the crowd at the Lag BaOmer celebrations at Mount Meron was large, “four to five times larger” than it should have been.
Our hearts go out to the people of Israel tonight following the terrible tragedy at Mount Meron.
Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews had gathered at the Mount Meron tomb of second-century sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Magen David Adom, a rescue service, told the Post that 44 people were in critical condition, with dozens of ambulances and six helicopters called to the scene to evacuate the injured.
“We thought maybe there was a alert over a suspicious package,” a man who gave his name as Yitzhak told Channel 12 TV.
Video from the scene showed rescue workers attempting to set up a field hospital, The Times of Israel reported.
A 24-year-old witness, identified only as Dvir, told the Army Radio station that “masses of people were pushed into the same corner and a vortex was created.” Dvir said a first row of people fell down, the AP reported.