At least 44 people have been killed in a crush at a mass religious gathering on Mount Meron in northern Israel, emergency responders say.
Attendees were celebrating the religious Lag B'Omer holiday, the largest annual public event in Israel. It commemorates the death of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, a second-century Mishnaic sage whose book "The Zohar" is the foundation of Jewish mysticism.
"This is one of the worst tragedies that I have ever experienced. I have not seen anything like this since I entered into the field of emergency medicine back in 2000," said Lazar Hyman, vice president of volunteer-based emergency organization United Hatzalah, who was at the scene.
Dov Maisel, another United Hatzalah responder, told CNN that an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 people had been on the mountain, and many people had crowded into a small area.
