BICOM

At least three people have been killed after a building collapsed at a construction site in the Ramat Hachayal area of Tel Aviv.

The incident occurred yesterday morning at the construction site for a multi-story underground car park. Two people were reported dead yesterday and a third is reported to have died overnight. All three are thought to have been workers at the site. One was a Ukrainian national and reports indicate that the other two are Palestinians from the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Shuafat.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the site of the accident yesterday evening. He praised the work of the rescue services, saying: “The forces here are working as quickly as possible to try to save those trapped.”

However, there has been criticism of typically lax oversight in the construction industry. Kulanu MK Eli Alaluf, Knesset Labour and Welfare Committee chairman said: “Unfortunately this tragedy that we are seeing again and have warned against has replayed itself in front of our eyes.”

At least 24 people were injured in the accident. Rescue services, including the IDF’s experienced search and rescue unit worked through the night, with several people still thought to be trapped beneath the rubble. A crane and a sand-suctioning truck have been set up to clear away an estimated 250 tons of rubble, but an Israeli army statement said that there is still “a lot of work being done by hand”.

The reasons for the collapse remain unclear. Initial reports speculated that a crane had collapsed, but Army Radio reportse that part of the structure gave way to a construction tractor. Yediot Ahronot says that the construction company opted to use an architect rather than a structural engineer in order to save costs.

Meanwhile, Haaretz reports that two workers were injured at the same site close to two months ago, after a concrete beam broke.