Versailles wedding hall disaster

The Versailles wedding hall ( _he. אולמי ורסאי), located in Talpiot, Jerusalem, is the site of the worst civil disaster in Israel's history. At 22:43 on Thursday night, May 24,2001 during the wedding of Keren and Asaf Dror, a large portion of the third floor of the four-story building collapsed. As a result, 23 people fell to their deaths and approximately 380 were injured. The disaster shocked the Israeli public, not only because it was one of the worst building disasters in the country's history but also because the event was documented on a camcorder and was later broadcast on local and international television.

An investigation of the event concluded that the event was not caused by a terrorist attack. This was based on the testimony of many of the wedding guests present in the building during the disaster; there was a dangerous slope in the wedding floor a short time before the collapse. Later on it became clear that the Pal-Kal method of construction - a method of producing light-weight coffered ceilings was not the main cause of the collapse, despite the judge's ruling. The actual cause entails a lengthier explanation:

Initially the failed side of the building was supposed to be a 2 storey structure with a roof at the top. The other side was designed to be 3 storeys. Late in the stage of construction it was decided to make both sides equal heights and the roof of the failed side now became a floor (which requires far heavier load capacity than the roof). This was the first mistake. However, by introducing partitions below the former roof, loads were able to be redistributed well enough not to incur any damage. Unfortunately, a few weeks before the collapse, the wedding hall owners decided to remove this aforementioned partition which caused the area of future failure to deflect (or sag) several inches. Ignoring this as a sign of danger was the second and perhaps worst mistake. Instead of raising flags, the owners decided to level this now sagged floor with additional grout and fill. This not only fails in adding capacity to the structure, but actually introduces significantly more load on the weak area. Unsurprisingly, during the wedding event on 5/24/01 this under-designed and way overstressed floor panel failed resulting in catastrophe. The inventor of the Pal-Kal method of construction, the engineer Eli Ron, was arrested as a result of the disaster and in August 2002 an indictment was issued against him on the charge of manslaughter in accordance with Hammurabi or Napoleonic-like codes. This is despite the fact that Mr. Ron had not engaged in any part of the design or construction, but merely sold the proprietary elements that were installed in a deficient manner.

Following the disaster, the "Versailles Law" was legislated by the Parliament of Israel. This law established a special committee responsible for treating the people injured in the disaster. Moreover, an official investigation committee was established, under the leadership of the former judge Verdimos Zailler, who was in charge of the security of public places and buildings.

In October 2004, the three owners of Versailles wedding hall -- Avraham Adi, Uri Nisim, and Efraim Adiv -- were convicted of causing death by negligence and causing damage by negligence.

The wedding hall was subsequently demolished, and as of 2007, the site remains an unoccupied, sealed lot. Across the street from the site is a memorial garden, with names of victims inscribed on a wall.

In May 2007, Eli Ron and three other engineers of the building's construction were sentenced to prison by the Jerusalem District Court. Eli Ron received a four year sentence, Shimon Kaufman and Dan Sheffer 22 months, and Uri Pessah six months. In December 2006, the court had convicted all three men of causing death by negligence and sabotage by negligence.

ee also

*Structural failure

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/24/newsid_4530000/4530071.stm BBC report of the accident]
* [http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/meast/05/27/israel.mourn/index.html CNN report]
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=FJQlSu-8iOU Youtube Videos]