SYDNEY, Feb. 16 (JTA) — A young Australian woman who has had close to 30 operations and spent much of her life in the hospital since the collapse of the foot bridge at the opening ceremony of the Maccabiah Games in Israel in 1997 is suing the organizers of the games. Sasha Elterman, who had gone to the games to compete in the tennis tournament, has lodged the first civil suit over the tragedy. A trial for criminal negligence of the organizing committee, the bridge engineers and contractors is already under way, as is an Israeli parliamentary inquiry. Her family’s Israeli lawyer, Pinas Saltzer, has put a figure of approximately $3 million on the expenses incurred so far in treating her injuries. He said that figure will increase in the future amid signs that Elterman will continue to suffer chronic effects from infections acquired while beneath the surface of the Yarkon River. The family is suing 19 parties, including the organizers of the games, the city of Ramat Gan, where they were held, and those involved in the building of the bridge.
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