Frantic search at Israel wedding hall --------- ASSI AND KEREN SROR had just become husband and wife at the Versailles wedding hall and hundreds of guests had streamed on the dance floor late Thursday. Suddenly, without warning, the floor caved in and the dancers fell into the abyss. Screaming guests on the edges of the dance floor peered down into the crater in disbelief. The footage, broadcast on Israeli TV stations, showed one man scooping up a little girl in the mayhem. An elderly man walked right up to the large hole, and was escorted away by a woman. Tamar Revivo, 26, said she fell into the abyss with the others. “We were on people - those poor people,” Revivo said Friday from her hospital bed, where she was being treated for a fractured right ankle. “I’d see a hand. I’d see a person. They tried to get me out and I had to walk on them.” Sara Pinhas, a relative of the groom, said dancers had just lifted the father of the groom on a chair, a traditional part of the Jewish wedding celebration, when suddenly he fell, “and then we felt the whole building collapse, everything fell down.” “We managed to climb down the side of the building,” she said. TERROR ATTACK RULED OUT Jerusalem police ruled out the possibility of a terror attack, saying the building collapsed because of structural failure. According to first reports, the building appeared not to be up to construction codes. Several supporting columns in the halls had also been removed to enlarge the reception area and the floor tiles had recently been replaced, the reports said. The owner of the building is under arrest — along with an engineer, a designer and a contractor. Israeli TV says an initial investigation points to negligence, and to an attempted cover-up. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says he’s going to call a special Cabinet meeting, to look into whether there should be an official probe. DEATH TOLL RISES By Friday afternoon, the death toll had reached at least 23 as body after body was pulled from the pile of rubble, concrete slabs and twisted metal. Jerusalem police told NBC News that some 100 people remained trapped under the wreckage. The death toll was expected to rise. Five bodies were found near a table, including a couple embracing one another, said Yehuda Meshi Zahav, head of an ultra-Orthodox rescue volunteer group. Maj. Gen. Gabi Ofir, in charge of the rescue operation, said 309 people were taken to hospitals with injuries. Hospital doctors said many children were among them, including a 3-month-old. Among the injured were the newlyweds. Assi was treated for minor injuries and released. But Keren, carried out on a stretcher in her fluffy white dress, suffered hip and chest injuries and might need surgery, doctors said. FLOORS OPEN UP Alisa Sror, the mother of the groom, said she had just congratulated her son when the floors opened up. “The wall collapsed on them, the floor, the tables,” she said from her hospital bed. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sent his condolences and promised a thorough investigation. The Palestinian Authority expressed its “deep sorrow” to the Israeli government and offered to help with the rescue work. The gesture came at a time of bitter conflict and new violence between the two sides, who have been trading accusations over who is responsible for eight months of fighting that has killed 562 people. In back-to-back suicide attacks Friday, a truck blew up near a heavily fortified Israeli army post in the Gaza Strip and a car bomb exploded near a bus in central Israel. Three assailants were killed and 39 Israelis were injured, most lightly. RESCUE TO TAKE DAYS In the Jerusalem hall collapse, rescue workers aided by German shepherds searched for survivors and removed bodies from the rubble, carrying them on stretchers covered with blankets. Ofir said four people were rescued after several hours, and that rescue efforts would continue for at least four or five days. “We expect there are people alive under the rubble,” Ofir said Friday. Rescue officials had appealed for blood donations, but some centers had to turn donors away Friday, overwhelmed by the response. Relatives, desperately seeking news of their loved ones, gathered at the scene in front of Jerusalem hospitals. “Frieda, Dudu!” one man shouted, searching for his wife and brother. The special Israeli army rescue unit that has been sent abroad in the past to dig out earthquake victims in India and Turkey was working at the scene. Soldiers in yellow helmets used bulldozers, cranes and a conveyer belt to pull out the larger pieces of rubble and metal shards from the cavernous hole, but the mounds of debris were so unstable they tumbled at the touch of heavy machinery. INVESTIGATION LAUNCHED The wedding took place on the top floor of the building, and the two floors below were not being used. Under them, the bottom floor was a parking garage. Public Security Minister Uzi Landau said a committee of experts would be formed to investigate the cause. The building was constructed in 1986. Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert said his preliminary examination of the building file disclosed findings “that trouble me very much.” He did not give details but suggested a criminal investigation may be required. The Standards Institution of Israel warned that other buildings were in danger of collapse because of negligence. Ziza Patir, head of the institute, said she believed the hall was built using a cheaper, lightweight construction method common in the 1980s that was below building standards. The method, which uses metal plates and thinner layers of cement than standard ceilings, was barred in 1996, she said. It was the worst disaster of its kind in Israel’s history. On April 30, 1992, a mudslide collapsed the walls of a cafe in Jerusalem’s Old City, killing 23 people and injuring 22. -------------- If you're anywhere near a TV, I don't know how you could avoid seeing the footage of the floor caving in. That video is probably one of the most horrific things I've ever seen. Thoughts go out to all of the families involved... -------- [This message has been edited by Band Geek Mobster (edited May 25, 2001).]
When I see stuff like that, I can't help but think what is going through everone's minds...what I would have thought/done. Especially airplane crashes. leaving moral judgement out of this, since it is soooo unfair to judge what someone does moments after such a horrific event....but, what goes throught the mind of the person with the camera?
I don't know how that cameraman could actually stand there and videotape the whole thing. If the floor gave out, and I was videotaping it, I'd drop the camera and get the hell out of that building. The most chilling stuff from that article is the talk about people having to walk on top of others that were buried beneath them to get out. It was eerie to see how much fun everyone was having and all of the dancing and smiling, and then all of a sudden that happens. I can't stop thinking about how horrible that video was.
