Dozens killed in stampede at ultra-Orthodox religious festival in Israel

Video footage showed large numbers of people, most of them black-clad ultra-Orthodox men, squeezed in the tunnel.

Broken glasses are seen at the site where fatalities were reported during Lag BaOmer festival at Mt. Meron in northern Israel, Friday, April 30, 2021. A stampede at the religious festival attended by tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews in northern Israel killed dozens of people and injured more than 100 others early Friday, medical officials said, in one of the country’s deadliest civilian disasters. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

A stampede at a religious festival attended by tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews in northern Israel has killed at least 44 people and injured about 150, medical officials said.

One of the country’s deadliest civilian disasters began when large numbers of people thronged a narrow tunnel-like passage during the event, according to witnesses and video footage.