Medics work to identify the 45 killed in Israeli stampede

Medics and rescue workers attend to the Lag B'Omer event in Mount Meron, northern Israel, where fatalities were reported among the thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews gathered at the tomb of a 2nd-century sage for annual commemorations that include all-night prayer and dance, at Mount Meron, Israel April 30, 2021 REUTERS/ Stringer NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES.

MOUNT MERON, Israel (Reuters) -Medical teams worked on Friday to identify 45 people crushed to death in a stampede at a religious festival on the slopes of Israel's Mount Meron, with children among the dead.

Witnesses spoke of seeing a "pyramid" of people who were asphyxiated or trampled in a passageway around 3 metres (10 feet) wide at the crowded event in the Galilee.