PANICKED crowds funnelled into a tiny "death trap" tunnel where at least 44 people were crushed to death at a Jewish festival today. The disaster unfolded at the overcrowded festival of Lag B'Omer in Meron, Israel just after midnight. “To my sorrow, we found small children who had been crushed, we tried to resuscitate them and managed in a few cases to save them,” he said. The festival includes the lighting of bonfires, pilgrimages to the tomb of bar Yochai in Meron and customs at the tomb. The country has seen Covid cases plummet since launching one of the world's most successful vaccination campaigns late last year.
