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One killed, two injured in electric-plant tunnel collapse in northern Israel

At least eight workers were briefly trapped some 50 meters underground at the Ma’ale Gilboa Power Station tunnel near Beit She’an when an above-ground crane fell on it.

A Caterpillar bulldozer amid construction of the Israeli security fence. Credit: Justin McIntosh.
A Caterpillar bulldozer amid construction of the Israeli security fence. Credit: Justin McIntosh.

One man was killed and another two were injured when a tunnel collapsed at an underground construction plant on Friday.

At least eight workers were briefly trapped some 50 meters underground at the Ma’ale Gilboa Power Station tunnel near Beit She’an in the incident when an above-ground crane fell on it.

The workers were building an underground hydroelectricity facility at the site, which works by pumping water up from a low reservoir to a station at the top of Mount Gilboa, then letting it spill down in an underground waterfall onto a large turbine, generating extra electricity for the national grid.

The identities of the men affected were not immediately publicized.

The wounded men, both in their 30s, were evacuated by helicopter to Haemek Hospital in Afula. Ambulances, mobile ICU units and a helicopter were scrambled to the site.

Police have launched an investigation into the accident.

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One of the soldiers was killed in an incident in which two others were critically injured and an officer was moderately injured.
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“IDF soldiers must stand between Hezbollah and Israeli civilians. We will not wait for the next attack to reach our homes.”
The Jewish state, by contrast, absorbed Holocaust survivors, Jews expelled from Arab states and others who did not maintain their refugee status.
U.S.-Iran talks have been postponed after an explosive drone killed four Israeli soldiers in Southern Lebanon.