Athlete injured in July tragedy undergoes emergency surgery

SYDNEY, Australia, Jan. 26 (JTA) — A widow of an Australian athlete killed in Israel last July has filed a damage suit. Four Australians died when a bridge collapsed during the Maccabiah Games opening ceremonies. The lawsuit was filed against the Games’ organizers, those responsible for building the bridge and the Yarkon River Authority. Meanwhile, an Australian teen-ager who has been hospitalized since the collapse has undergone emergency brain surgery. Colin Elterman, whose daughter Sasha has been seriously ill for the past six months, revealed that the surgery was carried out after she “deteriorated badly” from a brain abscess two weeks ago. Her condition has now improved. Sasha was able to leave her bed at Sydney Children’s Hospital last week and walk around her ward, which she did in the company of Israeli Deputy Minister for Sport Moshe Peled, who was visiting Australia to meet families of the victims of the tragedy. Peled’s visit coincided with the beginning of court proceedings against five people in connection with the disaster. The first installment, $100,000— out of a promised $500,000 — of an Israeli government loan to families of those killed or injured during the collapse, recently arrived, according to the head of Maccabi Australia, Tom Goldman. Two Australian athletes were killed immediately in the collapse, and two more died weeks later as a result of complications that medical officials linked to contaminants in the river water.