5 construction workers injured when scaffolding collapses at Beit Shemesh site

Five construction workers were injured Wednesday after scaffolding collapsed at a building site in Beit Shemesh.

Fire and Rescue workers arrived at the scene and helped pull out the injured from under the rubble, Magen David Adom said. Medics then began treating the victims.

One of them, a 25-year-old, was found unconscious and rushed to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in serious condition. The remaining four victims were taken to the same medical center, but they were all conscious and in moderate condition.

An MDA first responder said in a statement that the workers had been operating on an upper floor of a building when the scaffolding collapsed. He said the injured were as young as 18 and as old as 60.

Deaths of construction workers in Israel are a frequent occurrence, largely because of poorly enforced safety codes, according to critics.

At least 46 workers were killed on job sites in 2019.