‘We don’t know exactly what happened, but the result is unthinkable’

A Zaka emergency rescue officer (pictured below), speaking at the service’s clinic at the site, tells Channel 12 news that rescue staff are working with Israel police to evacuate bodies from the scene of the disaster. “I’ve just come back from there,” he says.

He says access to the scene is being complicated by the presence of large crowds, including children.

A Zaka emergency rescue official describes the tragecy at Mt Meron (Channel 12 screenshot)

He says Zaka is trying to gather all the children who have become separated from their parents at the Zaka facility, and bring them together.

“We are trying to locate people who are believed to be missing… to organize a register of names.”

Mobile telephones are not working, he says, and the situation is chaotic.

“There are more than 30 children here right now… whose mothers and fathers aren’t answering the phone.”

“Without getting graphic,” he says, “I’ve been with Zaka for decades. I’ve never seen anything like this… We don’t know exactly what happened, but the result is unthinkable.”

He says all the injured have been evacuated from the site.