On July 14, 1997, during the opening ceremony of the 15th Maccabiah Games, a temporary pedestrian bridge over the polluted Yarkon River in Tel Aviv failed beneath the Australian delegation. The 60-foot bridge had been built to carry athletes from an assembly area into Ramat Gan Stadium, where 50,000 spectators watched the ceremony. The 373-member Australian delegation was the second national team to cross, and roughly 100 Australians were on the structure when its mid-span support beams snapped. Athletes fell approximately eight metres into the river, some becoming trapped beneath twisted metal and others forcibly submerged by the weight of people landing on top of them. Survivors linked arms to form a human chain, while athletes, soldiers, police, staff and bystanders jumped into the water to rescue victims from the steep, muddy banks. Inside the stadium, the ceremony initially continued, with Israeli television alternating between the festive program and the chaotic rescue operation outside.
Gregory Small, a 37-year-old Australian bowler, died at the scene. Three other Australians—bowler Yetty Bennett, bridge-team member Elizabeth Sawicki and bowler Warren Zines—later died from severe infections contracted after near-drowning in the contaminated river. The pathogen, eventually identified after Zines's autopsy, was the rare fungus Scedosporium boydii, which can cause disseminated infection and is resistant to many treatments. Fifteen-year-old tennis player Sasha Elterman survived after 28 brain surgeries and two lung operations, but permanently lost around 40 percent of her lung capacity and suffered recurring convulsions; more than 60 people were injured overall.
Investigators found that the catastrophe was not an unavoidable structural accident but the result of reckless shortcuts. Organizers abandoned the experienced Israel Defense Forces bridge unit because its bid was reportedly about $111,000, accepting a $34,750 contract from Irgunit, a company known for theatrical props that had never built a bridge. Irgunit subcontracted the work to unlicensed builders Baruch Karagula and Yehoshua Ben-Ezra, while engineer Micha Bar-Ilan allegedly failed to submit proper plans, designed a bridge below the required load standard and inadequately supervised construction. The structure reportedly used rusty metal pipes bound with wire, and required permits and safety oversight were not obtained. In 2000, all five men were convicted of causing death by negligence: Bar-Ilan received 21 months in prison, Karagula and Ben-Ezra 15 months each, Irgunit head Adam Mishori nine months, and organizing-committee chairman Yoram Eyal six months of community service. The victims and injured survivors eventually received nearly $20 million in damages in 2004. The disaster also exposed the severe pollution of the Yarkon, prompting a major river rehabilitation program, while controversy continued when Eyal was reinstated to a highly paid management role in 2002 despite protests from the Australian Jewish community. A full Australian team returned in 2005 and took part in a riverside memorial ceremony.
Follow the sources
Status and citations are supplied by the archive. AI concept art is an interpretation, not historical evidence.
AI concept artwork · not archival photography