Collapse
As scheduled during the opening ceremony, the participating athletes, teamed with their respective national delegations, began to march across the bridge and into the stadium. The second nation to cross the bridge, following the Austrian team, consisted of the 373 members of the Australian delegation. As the Australian athletes, packed together in parallel rows of six, crossed the river the bridge's support beams at roughly mid-span suddenly snapped, plunging around 100 of the Australians eight metres into the river below. Several of the fallen were forcibly submerged in the 1.6-metre deep river by the press of falling athletes above them.
Other athletes, bystanders, event staff, and policemen leapt into the river to rescue the fallen. Inside the stadium, Israeli government officials, including President Ezer Weizman, chose to continue with the opening ceremony, but canceled the remainder of the march of the national teams into the stadium. Israeli television maintained live coverage, switching back and forth between the frantic rescue efforts outside the stadium and the festive dancing and light shows inside.
The 67 injured were taken to nearby Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva and Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. One victim, Gregory Small, 37, a bowler from Sydney, was dead on arrival, apparently as a result of injuries suffered during the fall. The remaining 66 victims did not appear to have suffered life-threatening injuries. Their injuries included broken bones and water inhalation.
Read more about this topic: Maccabiah Bridge Collapse
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