At the least 38 people died after an apparent stampede this morning, when tens of thousands of Jewish people celebrated the holiday of Lag B'Omer in northern Israel, in an event that was the busiest in the country since the beginning of the pandemic COVID -19.

Almost forty attendees were crushed to death and more than a hundred were injured. Dozens are in critical condition, according to emergency services, who evacuate those affected for medical attention and have installed a field hospital after one of the most tragic incidents in recent Israeli history.

The exact cause that caused the accident is still unknown. It could have been due to a scenario that collapsed, to which the agglomeration of people in the area would have been added, a spokesman for the Israeli emergency service United Hatzalah told Efe.

"Our volunteers in the area explain that there was a collapse due to overcrowding and people fell on top of each other," causing many to "flee the area" and find themselves in a more saturated situation, he added.

The festival of Lag Baomer, in which tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews took part, marking the celebration with songs and dances on Mount Meron in Galilee, was carried out without great restrictions after Israel had returned to almost complete normality after a swift vaccination against coronavirus.

The Israeli Army was deployed to assist in the evacuation of the wounded and to provide "medical treatment" on the ground.

According to local media, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident "a terrible disaster."