Hall collapse kills 24

Associated Press

JERUSALEM – The image was startling: A dance floor jammed with wedding guests, dancing and clapping amid flashing disco lights, suddenly collapsed and hundreds of dancers disappeared into an abyss of concrete, sparks and dust.

At least 24 people were killed and more than 300 injured in the collapse of the Versailles banquet hall – the deadliest building collapse in Israel’s history. A wedding video that captured the tragedy was broadcast again and again on television Friday.

Four people – two contractors, an engineer and a designer – were arrested Friday, police said. Israel TV’s Channel Two said an initial inquiry pointed to negligence and an attempted coverup. Officials also questioned the building’s owners.

Assi and Keren Sror had just become husband and wife, and many of their 600 guests had streamed on the dance floor late Thursday to take part in the heart-thumping dancing common at Jewish weddings.

Video footage showed joyous guests dancing on one another’s shoulders, and kissing the bride and groom after Assi smashed a glass under his foot marking the traditional end of the ceremony and start of the party.

Suddenly, the floor buckled underneath them and the dancers disappeared, plunging three stories into a heap of rubble that billowed gray smoke and sparks.

The video footage showed a wide-eyed little girl in a frilly white dress being held aloft in her father’s arms seconds before the collapse. She survived and was seen in subsequent footage with cuts and bruises on her face.

Among the injured were the newlyweds.

On the edges of the crater, where survivors grasped their heads in shock, the round, black-topped tables were eerily unscathed, wine glasses and bottles of mineral water and soda still standing.

Five bodies, members of one family, including children, were found seated around one table, said the commander of the elite Israeli search and rescue unit. One couple was found embracing one another, said Yehuda Meshi Zahav, head of a rescue volunteer group.

Rabbis gave all rescue teams, including members of an ultra-Orthodox group that collects remains from terrorist attacks, permission to work on the Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest.