Israeli authorities rule out sabotage in Maccabiah accident

JERUSALEM, July 14 (JTA) — Israeli security forces are dismissing sabotage as the cause of this week’s tragic collapse of a pedestrian bridge during opening ceremonies of the “Jewish Olympics.” Police officials said the bridge had been built by a contracting company and that all necessary permits had been obtained.
“It didn’t stand up to the weight,” Public Security Minister Avigdor Kahalani said. Organizers of the 15th Maccabiah Games decided to suspend the competition for 24 hours after at least one person was killed and dozens injured Monday when the bridge leading into a sports stadium collapsed minutes before the competition’s opening parade. Israeli media reported that the games — which brought together some 5,500 Jewish athletes from 50 countries for the quadrennial event — were expected to resume on Wednesday. Most of the injured athletes were members of the Australian delegation. Dozens of members of the 370-member team were standing on a temporary bridge spanning the Yarkon River, waiting to march into the Ramat Gan stadium near Tel Aviv. Tens of thousands of spectators had gathered for the opening ceremonies. Police said at least one person was killed and 66 were injured, one critically and three others seriously, when the wooden bridge, which was supported by aluminum metal beams, collapsed in the middle. “I thought I would die,” Daniel Cohen, a 16-year-old Australian team member who was injured in the fall, told Israel Radio. Israeli television channels broadcast images of rescue workers pulling injured athletes from the waters and placing them into waiting ambulances. “We were walking on the bridge when all of a sudden we heard a crack, and then a second crack, and all of a sudden in slow motion, the bridge just collapsed in the middle and we started to slide, people falling on top of each other into the water,” said Harry Purcell, the Australian team manager. “I slid into the water, though my head remained above it. Other people behind me were totally submerged,” said team member Evelyn Cohen. As other athletes and rescue teams struggled to pull people out of the muddy water, the opening ceremonies for the quadrennial Maccabiah games got under way. The march of the athletes was canceled, but organizers decided to proceed with the scheduled entertainment. Organizers said the decision to continue the ceremony was made before the full extent of the incident was known. President Ezer Weizman, who attended the ceremonies, apologized for the initial decision to continue, but soon left to visit the injured in the hospital. “It was unfortunate for this to happen, but at the time it was uncertain whether there were any deaths, and there was a decision to go on with the ceremony,” Weizman told the audience before leaving for the hospital to visit the injured. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was also at the event, visited the injured as well, as did Health Minister Yehoshua Matza. The Israel Defense Force spokesman’s office issued a statement that it had offered the services of the army engineering corps to build the bridge, but Maccabiah organizers had elected not to take up the offer because it would be too expensive.