The Maccabiah bridge collapse was the catastrophic failure of a pedestrian bridge over the Yarkon River in Tel Aviv, Israel on July 14, 1997. The collapse of the temporary metal and wooden structure killed four and injured more than 60 Australian athletes and other team delegates who were visiting Israel to participate in the Maccabiah Games. One athlete died in the collapse and three died afterwards due to infections caused by exposure to the polluted river water. A subsequent investigation found that negligent shortcuts had been taken in the bridge's construction, mandatory permits and oversight had not been obtained, and the bridge's construction did not meet government requirements. Five people, including the engineer who designed the bridge and the chair of the Tel Aviv Games Organising Committee, were convicted of recklessly causing death and injury. Four served prison sentences. The fifth, the committee chairman, served a term of community service and was reappointed to a highly-paid management position in 2002. In 2004, after lengthy lawsuit delays, the deceased and the injured were awarded close to $20 million in damages. The disaster highlighted environmental problems in Israel, especially with regard to its rivers and waterways, prompting clean-up efforts. A full Australian team returned to the games in 2005 and participated in a riverside ceremony unveiling a memorial to the victims of the collapse.
Background
The Maccabiah Games, organized by Maccabi World Union (MWU) and first staged in 1932, is an athletic event held every four years in Tel Aviv, Israel, to celebrate the Zionist Revolution, and to demonstrate the unity and athleticism of the Jewish people. The games include competitions for adults and for junior athletes aged 15 to 18, and are open to all Israelis and Jews from around the world. The 15th Maccabiah Games, held in 1997 and billed as the third largest sporting event in the world, included 5,300 participants from 56 nations competing in 38 athletic events. The opening ceremony on July 14 at 8 p.m. (local time), held at Ramat Gan Stadium and designed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the First Zionist Congress, was attended by 50,000 people and featured hundreds of dancers, dazzling sound and light displays, and was broadcast on Israeli television. As at past games, a temporary footbridge, 60 feet long and 18 feet wide, was constructed across the nearby Yarkon River to allow competitors to march into the stadium during the ceremony from an assembly area on the other side of the river.
Collapse As scheduled during the opening ceremony, the participating athletes, teamed with their respective national delegations, began to cross the bridge and enter the stadium in alphabetical order. The second nation to cross the bridge, following the Austrian team, consisted of the 373 members of the Australian delegation. As the Australian athletes, in parallel rows of six, crossed the river, the bridge's support beams at roughly mid-span 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 weight of falling athletes above them. Dozens struggled to get out of the river, and many linked arms to form a human chain to pull each other out. Some of the fallen were caught in the bridge's twisted beams. Other athletes, bystanders, event staff, soldiers, and police leapt into the river to rescue the fallen. About 20 ambulances were rushed to the scene and helicopters with spotlights and divers were sent in to assist in rescue efforts. Due to the Yarkon River's banks being steep and muddy, rescuers had to use ropes to descend to the water's edge. 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. Weizman and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed immediately upon the end of the ceremony to visit the victims in hospital and the games were suspended for 24 hours. The injured were taken to nearby Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva and Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. One, Gregory Small, 37, a bowler from Sydney, was dead on arrival, apparently as a result of injuries or drowning caused by the fall. The remaining survivors did not appear to have sustained life-threatening injuries. Their injuries included broken bones and water inhalation.
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