5 Guilty in 1997 Collapse of Bridge

A Tel Aviv court found five Israelis guilty of causing the deaths of four Australian athletes when a footbridge collapsed during opening ceremonies of the 1997 Maccabiah “Jewish Olympics.” Israel Radio said the court ruled that the defendants, including the bridge’s engineer, the contractors who built it and the organizer of the games, were guilty of causing the deaths through negligence. Each could face up to four years in prison, a prosecutor said. The three-judge panel, which heard the testimony of more than 80 witnesses, spent six months deliberating the verdict after a trial that lasted more than two years.