Search for Survivors Ends in Israel

J E R U S A L E M, May 26, 2001 -- Rescuers in Israel have ended their search for survivors in a collapsed wedding reception hall and gathered for a memorial service to honor the hundreds who were injured and the dozens who died when the building collapsed.

Under the arc lights once used to illuminate the search site an din front of the gaping hole in the building, members of the police, military and Israeli search and rescue team gathered Saturday evening.

The search was called off earlier in the day. Israeli officials said everyone missing has been accounted for and it had become too risky to continue the search. Two nights earlier, the dance floor of the reception hall collapsed as a wedding was being celebrated.

"As of now, on the basis of a thorough investigation by theIsrael police, there are no more people in the building," said Maj. Gen. Gabi Ofir, the head of the rescue team, according to The Associated Press.

The Associated Press reports that police have arrested four owners of the building.

The sudden floor collapse caused hundreds of wedding partiers to plunge through two unoccupied floors into the bottom floor, a parking garage. At least 24 people were killed and more than 300 others injured.

After four people were pulled out alive on Friday, officials said they would continue the search for another three to four days.

American Michael Yinhar, a former firefighter in North Carolina who now works with the Israeli search and rescue team, said the rescuers were very aware the building could collapse again at any moment.

"We're working under the assumption that we'll be okay," he said. "We also know that there's safe checks all around us constantly monitoring the columns and the roof. The roof is the big problem."

Arrests and Investigation

Late Friday, two contractors and an engineer were arrested, and investigators were also questioning the owners of the Versailles hall, where the floor of the top story gave way.

The Associated Press reported that nine people were in custody — including the four owners of the building, the contractor responsible for the originalconstruction in 1986, the owner of a company that carried outrenovations three months ago and an engineer.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he would convene a Cabinet meeting Tuesday to consider the possibility of launching an official commission of inquiry.

"This was a shocking incident, one of the most difficult that occurred in Israel," Sharon said. "I would define this as a national disaster."

Shoddy Construction?

There were reports that the builders may have used cheap construction materials and the structure was below building standards.

The building was constructed in 1986, but one of the owners said it had been renovated recently. The was speculation that it was to make the dance floor bigger.

Initial reports said the building appeared not to be up to construction codes, and that several supporting columns had recently been removed.

There were also suspicions that the hall was built with metal plates and thinner layers of cement than standard ceiling, a cheaper practice that was barred in 1996.

Jerusalem police have ruled out the possibility of a terror attack, placing primary suspicions on structural failure.

Horrifying Video

Broadcast outlets around the world repeated video footage shot by wedding photographer David Amromin, which showed a packed dance floor jammed with wedding guests one moment, and a dust-breathing abyss the next.

Assi and Keren Dror had just become husband and wife as Amromin's footage captured hundreds of guests streaming on to the dance floor to celebrate with the heart-thumping dancing common at Jewish weddings.

Suddenly, the floor underneath the dancers buckled, and then disappeared, plunging to dancers into the space below. Screaming guests on the edges scrambled to safety, or incredulously peered down into the crater.

One curious man strayed close to the edge before a frantic woman rushed to him and pulled him away.

The newlyweds were among those who fell into the crater, but both survived. The bride, Keren, was carried out on a stretcher, and may need surgery after sustaining hip and chest injuries.

The groom's mother also fell in, and spent hours pinned on top of her brother-in-law. "All the time I told him, 'Fico, Fico, be strong. Don't die, please, please,'" she told a cameraman from her hospital bed. Her brother-in-law also survived.

Amromin later said he kept filming because he "did not understand what happened at all at first. I did not know what I was doing or where I was. I was in another world."

ABCNEWS' Linda Albin in Jerusalem contributed to this report.