Ways of mourning: At least 44 revelers who participated in the Rashbi celebrations in Meron were crushed to death last night (Friday night) following a terrible stampede that occurred near the Toldot Aharon lighting area.
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An initial investigation and testimonies from those present indicate that some of the partygoers slipped on the stairs, fell on each other, and crushed the many injured.
Eyewitnesses who were present at the scene, as well as rescue workers, describe scenes they will never forget:
One of the celebrants who was standing near the scene of the disaster told Channel 12 about the sequence of events: "People were lying at my feet, children were screaming at me, help me, I was trying to get them out. In the end, a soldier came to me and helped me get people out.
""I told you: I went upstairs. The passage was flowing, flowing, suddenly everything stopped, everything stopped. We are all pressed against each other, not understanding why it is, very strange, no movement.
""I raise my head, I see what I remember: three policewomen and several policemen setting up a checkpoint. They shout at them: 'Move the checkpoint, people are dying here.' People next to me first turned blue, then you see their faces losing color, then there were bodies lying at my feet, and I tried with all my might, and I shout at the people: 'Come help me.'.
""Slowly rescue and paramedics arrived, they started reviving people. There were people who didn't revive them, they put them aside. We started CPR and a pulse came back. My child is missing, I have to go look for him...""
Eli, another eyewitness, described similar things: "I was under the grandstand, and I came up towards all the chaos there. I started going up and I heard banging on the roof, boom boom. I heard people screaming: 'Run, people are dying.' People were falling from a height and crushing each other, trampling each other. You just see people falling. I will never forget those booms. People were flying in every direction.".
Another witness said: "Like a war zone. It's like there was a battle here. We heard the announcer calling to evacuate the mountain - we thought it was a suspicious object, we didn't understand what happened here. It's just terrible. We need to do a home inspection of everything that happened here.".
Meir, who was slightly injured and taken to the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya, told Ynet: "A Border Guard soldier pulled me out of the rubble, making sure they wouldn't step on me until we were evacuated. It felt like eternity, the dead were right next to us.".
His friend David told of the moments of waiting for rescue: "We went in to turn on the light and suddenly there was a wave that came out. Our bodies moved on their own, people were lifted into the air and some were crushed to the floor. There was a child there who was pinching me the whole time, fighting for his life. We waited for rescue for 15-20 minutes in crazy crowding and pressure, it was terrible.".
Another witness said: "We were at the entrance, we decided we wanted to leave and then the police blocked the gate, so anyone who wanted to leave couldn't leave. In that rush, we fell on top of each other. I thought I was going to die. I saw people dying next to me.".
An elderly Chabad follower who was hospitalized in Ziv told Kan News: "I felt an injury in my leg, pressure started, I asked not to touch, they left me aside, thank God. I was fine.
""I try to get to Zion every year. The truth is that the lighting of this Rebbe's lamp attracts a large crowd. It was very organized, very neat, they tried very hard. Because tomorrow, Shabbat, he lit the lamp tonight. They tried hard, but people came up and moved forward, handed out drinks, the place was fine. The exit is the problem... They started singing and I left immediately. It took a good few minutes from the time I fell until they rescued me, with the whole audience rushing over me... I have a fracture in my leg.".
Kabbalist Rabbi Yitzhak Batzri told Galei Tzahal: "A day of joy turned into a day of mourning. We saw this great disaster - the music stopped immediately and there was only crying and screaming. You see the fear - there is nowhere to run.".
The rescue workers who arrived at the scene were also shocked. "The place looks like a scene of destruction," said Itay from the Hermon Mevot rescue unit. "I can't say if there was a collapse or not, the pusher did a bad job there. All we can do is help evacuate the injured and search for trapped people. This is an event that we prepare for every year. There is no doubt that, like the events we have seen abroad, this is a serious event and we need to make sure that it doesn't happen again in the future.".
One of the ZAKA members who participated in the evacuation and identification of the victims said painfully: "People were thirsty for Miron, they came to rejoice and returned with bags. It was not captured." He added: "This is a difficult scene. I have been volunteering for 23 years - there has never been an event like this. Chaos. The result is unbearable, these are numbers we don't know how to say. No one dreamed that the evening would end like this.".
MDA paramedic Omri Hochman, who was one of the first to arrive to treat the injured, also described the difficult scenes: "We arrived at the scene when there was a huge commotion and dozens of people were running in our direction. They shouted at us where to go and told us that there were dozens of people who were injured. They were lying near the stands and on the slope, and dozens more were walking around suffering from various injuries.".
Hochman said that later, "the large forces of the mountain began medical treatment and performing CPR, and with the help of stretchers we rescued the wounded to MDA clinics on the mountain, and from there we continued the treatment with ambulances, intensive care vehicles and helicopters to hospitals in the north of the country and in Jerusalem.".
