Wall collapses at Safed hospital, lightly injuring 3 patients and a visitor

Four people were lightly wounded when a wall collapsed on Wednesday at Ziv Medical Center in Safed.

Three of the injured were patients in the hospital’s urology department and the fourth was a visitor.

The hospital said that the collapse occurred due to ongoing construction work, which was halted immediately as the incident was investigated.

It was unclear whether construction was taking place in the immediate proximity of hospitalized patients, or whether work at a different location had caused the collapse.

Emergency services and engineers were on-site to ensure there was no danger of any further collapse.

First responders said that nobody was trapped in the rubble of the collapse.

Illustrative — The Ziv Medical Center in Safed on March 14, 2018 (David Cohen/Flash90)

According to the Ynet news site, the hospital is undergoing extensive renovation work.

The report said that one of the reasons for the work was a finding that the hospital would be unable to withstand an earthquake.

Israel lies along the Syrian-African rift, an active fault line that runs the length of the border separating Israel and Jordan. Major earthquakes in the area happen on average once every 80 years, though the last occurred over a century ago.

Geological experts have recently warned that some one million homes in Israel are at risk of collapse in case of an earthquake.

Safed experienced devastating earthquakes in 1759 and 1837, as well as less damaging temblors in subsequent years.