5 indicted for fatal Mount Herzl lighting rig disaster

Collapse killed Hila Betzaleli, injured 7 during Independence Day rehearsals in 2012; event producer will not face charges

By ToI Staff 30 December 2014, 7:13 pm Edit

In this 2012 photo, a police officer stands near the scene where a large lighting rig collapsed and killed Lt. Hila Betzaleli. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

Five people were indicted Tuesday at the Jerusalem’s Magistrate’s Court over the accidental death of an Israeli army officer, two years after a massive lighting rig collapsed during rehearsals for the annual Independence Day ceremony on Mount Herzl.

The five, members of the Itzuv Bama lighting company which erected the rig, were charged with varying degrees of criminal negligence and criminally negligent homicide. The court dropped all charges against the producer of the event, Alex Sela.

Second Lieutenant Hila Betzaleli, a 20-year-old officer from Mevasseret Zion, was crushed to death on April 18, 2012, when the lighting rig crashed down on her and other soldiers as they rehearsed for the official state ceremony in the central parade ground. Seven other soldiers were injured in the incident.

The lighting rig was constructed from metal scaffolding. Four columns, each approximately 15 meters (50 feet) in height, held up the lighting rig with multiple stage lights secured to the scaffolding. Apparently one of the four columns collapsed due to strong winds that day, causing the others to fall in its wake.

Hila Betzaleli poses at the Mount Herzl parade grounds, two hours before the tragedy in which she lost her life. (photo credit: Channel 2 News)

Betzaleli’s 74-year-old grandfather committed suicide last year, jumping from the window of his four-story apartment in Ashkelon. According to his neighbors, he had been fighting depression in the year since his granddaughter’s death.