On 20 July, 1997, the Australian team for the Maccabiah Jewish games began marching across the footbridge leading to the stadium for the
opening ceremony in
Tel Aviv. Excitement turned to
tragedy when the
bridge cracked in the middle and slowly collapsed. Some team members fell into the heavily polluted waters of the Yarkon River and others were pushed on top of each other.
The whole event was caught on
television and Israelis watched on as the images on their screens alternated between the joyous opening ceremony and the devastation of the bridge collapse. In
Australia, people watched in dread as family members and friends struggled to break free. Eventually the
Prime Minister of
Israel,
Benjamin Netanyahu, ordered organisers to stop the ceremony.
Desperate rescue attempts and resuscitation efforts did not prevent four deaths and 64 people from injury. Five team members were listed as critical.
Years later, the families of the dead in
Australia, as well as the most of injured athletes themselves, still await
compensation for their suffering.