Party Hall Collapse Kills 25, Injures 300

At least 25 people were killed and more than 300 injured Thursday night when a three-story party hall collapsed, sending hundreds of people who had been dancing at a wedding on the top floor plunging.

Police said they believed that the collapse was caused by a structural failure, not a bomb. Security forces across Israel have been on high alert for weeks, fearful of terrorist bombings by Palestinian militants. Thousands of people were evacuated from a Tel Aviv shopping center earlier in the day after reports of a planned attack.

In a country tragically accustomed to death from wars and terrorism, numerous rescue workers said they had never seen such destruction. The collapse was believed to be Israel’s deadliest disaster involving a civilian building.

Ambulances from around the country and a military earthquake search team raced to the wreckage of the Versailles Halls, in the Talpiot industrial zone of southern Jerusalem. Rescue workers found massive concrete blocks and twisted steel beams askew in a deep crater that used to be the building’s underground parking lot.

Dazed survivors wandered through the wreckage, some covered with blood. Frantic rescue workers dug through the rubble to reach the injured and dead. People buried under the debris called relatives on their cell phones, begging for help.

Arriving at the scene, Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert called the incident a “very grave disaster” that would have to be investigated. He appealed to the public to stay away and let rescue workers do their jobs, but more than 1,000 bystanders quickly converged on the site. Some wept, while others called the names of relatives.

A seemingly endless stream of gurneys carrying the injured came up from the crater and through the still-intact facade, which remained lighted by garish neon. Some injured parents clutched wounded children as they were loaded together into ambulances. Hospitals put out urgent appeals for blood donations. The army took charge of the rescue efforts as the magnitude of the disaster became clear.

By this morning, rescuers aided by trained dogs used in earthquake recoveries had unearthed 21 bodies, with dozens still believed trapped.

Medical workers directed dozens of wounded to field hospitals hastily set up in nearby parking lots, while more than 70 ambulances ferried the more seriously injured to nearby hospitals. About 700 people were believed to have been at the wedding. Witnesses said entire families disappeared in a cloud of dust when the center of the dance floor collapsed beneath them.

“I was sitting two tables away from the dance floor,” said Rami Mordechai. “All of a sudden, I saw a cloud of dust, and the floor simply sank in. There were about 150 people dancing, and it just sank. Now I’m here trying to find out who from my family is still alive.”

Hours after the collapse, tables covered with white cloths still balanced on remaining pieces of floor that dangled above the rubble-filled crater.

Ephraim Miro said he and his wife were among about 200 wedding guests who found themselves left far above the ground when the dance floor disappeared. “Suddenly, everyone was gone,” he said. “I saw people falling, flying in midair. The tables, the band, with their sound system, all suddenly disappeared.”

Doctors said the bride, Keren Dror, was hospitalized with hip and chest injuries and that her husband, Assaf, suffered minor wounds.

Maj. Gen. Gaby Ofir, chief of the army’s Home Front Command, said he believed that about 100 people were still missing and presumed buried.

“It is a large number, and I want to hope that I’m mistaken. Until we reach the bottom of this by peeling all the floors, it will take days.

“We know that there can be spaces,” Ofir added, “and our hope is that people who are buried under the rubble will be able to still survive in such spaces for hours, even days.”

Jerusalem Police Chief Miki Levy said it could take as long as three days to fully excavate the crater. He said the army was bringing in heavy equipment to move concrete blocks believed to be trapping victims.

Levy was among several officials who discounted the possibility that terrorism was involved. “To the best of my understanding,” he told Army Radio, “there is some sort of engineering, technical connection in the building. The ceiling simply fell down.”

The owner of the banquet hall was taken in for questioning by police, Israel Radio reported. The report said that several guests had noticed the dance floor shaking unsteadily but that their complaints had gone unheeded.