Israel stampede: 45 killed during Lag B'Omer celebrations, Netanyahu declares national mourning

Authorities in Israel are working to identify the 45 victims of the stampede that took place during Lag B'Omer celebrations in Mt Meron while PM Netanyahu announced a day of national mourning after a visit to the site.

Israeli medical workers sought on Friday to identify many of the 45 people crushed to death overnight at an overcrowded religious festival, where some of the victims went unnoticed until the PA system sounded an appeal to disperse. Deeply saddened at the tragedy in Israel at Mount Meron during the celebrations of Lag Ba'omer. Extend my condolences and wish the injured a speedy recovery. Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews had thronged to the Galilee tomb of 2nd-century sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai for annual Lag B'Omer commemorations that include all-night prayer, mystical songs and dance. Witnesses spoke of seeing a "pyramid" of people who were asphyxiated or trampled in a stampede through a passageway around 3 meters (10 feet) wide. Medics said the casualties, including children, were concentrated in the men's section of the gender-segregated festival.