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Scene of the accident in Meron in northern Israel
Photo: DAVID COHEN / EPA
According to rescue workers, at least 38 people were killed in a mass panic at a Jewish festival in northern Israel.
A spokesman for the Magen David Adom ambulance service spoke of an "incredible disaster" early Friday morning.
More than 100 people were injured, many of them life threatening.
The injured were taken to nearby hospitals, some by rescue helicopter.
The police tried to clear the premises.
Access roads have been cordoned off.
Israel's President Reuven Rivlin wrote on Twitter that he was following the reports from the town of Meron and praying for the recovery of the injured.
Thousands of ultra-Orthodox had celebrated the Jewish holiday Lag Ba'Omer in Meron.
Before the disaster, videos on social networks showed how people huddled together and sang, danced and jumped in exuberance.
The newspaper »Haaretz« reported, citing police circles, that the panic was triggered after people slipped and fell on stairs.
The people running behind them then fell.
In the first media reports there was talk of the collapse of a grandstand.
Lag Ba'Omer is a festival that commemorates, among other things, the Jewish uprising against the Roman occupiers under rebel leader Bar Kochba.
It erupted in 132 and was put down about three years later.
According to tradition, an epidemic ended on the day of Lag Ba'Omer, from which numerous Jewish religious students died at the time.
Rabbi Shimon Bar Jochai, who was also involved in the uprising against the Romans, is buried on Mount Meron.
Its place is a place of pilgrimage that thousands visit every year on the holiday.
Traditionally, campfires are also lit at this time.
Last year, the celebrations were severely restricted due to the corona pandemic.
cop / dpa