UPDATE: Israeli Paramedics Say 2 Dead In Synagogue Bleacher Collapse

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    Rescue personnel evacuate Ultra orthodox Jews injured when a synagogue bleacher collapsed in a syngogue in the Givat Zeev neighborhood of Jerusalem, leaving at least 2 killed and injuring around 60 more, a few in serious condition, on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. May 16, 2021. Photo by Noam Revkin Fenton/FLASH90

    JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli medics say two people are dead and more than 150 injured after a bleacher collapsed at an uncompleted West Bank synagogue.

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    The bleacher was packed with ultra-Orthodox worshippers and collapsed during prayers at the beginning of a major Jewish holiday. A spokesman for Magen David Adom told Channel 13 that paramedics had treated over 157 people for injuries and pronounced two dead, a man in his 50s and a 12-year-old boy.

    Rescue workers are on the scene, treating the injured and taking people to the hospital. The collapse comes weeks after 45 ultra-Orthodox Jews were killed in a stampede at a religious festival in northern Israel.

    Amateur footage showed the collapse occurring during prayers Sunday evening in Givat Zeev, just outside Jerusalem, at the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. The ultra-Orthodox synagogue was packed with hundreds of people.

    The Israeli military said in a statement that it dispatched medics and other search and rescue troops to assist at the scene. Army helicopters were airlifting the injured.

    Israeli authorities traded blame at the scene of the disaster.

    The mayor of Givat Zeev said the building was unfinished and dangerous, and that the police had ignored previous calls to take action. Jerusalem police chief Doron Turgeman said the disaster was a case of “negligence” and that there would likely be arrests.

    Deddi Simhi, head of the Israel Fire and Rescue service, told Israel’s Channel 12 that “this building is not finished. It doesn’t even have a permit for occupancy, and therefore let alone holding events in it.”

    Television footage from the scene showed the building was incomplete, with exposed concrete and boards visible.

    The accident comes weeks after a stampede at a religious festival in northern Israel that killed 45 ultra-Orthodox Jews.


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    2 Comments
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    jake
    jake
    2 years ago

    Load bearing structures have weight limits. The law of gravity applies whether you teach it or not. It EXISTS. The Haredi believe they can ignore the world? You cannot ignore the laws of the universe.

    hashomer
    hashomer
    2 years ago

    Horrible, and just after Meron. No doubt there will be blame on the IDF, Zionists, gays, AOC, etc. What a shanda.