The crush was not the first time pilgrims at Mount Meron had been killed in an accident. On 15 May 1911, eleven people were killed when a crowd of about 10,000 filled the compound and a railing of a nearby balcony collapsed. About 100 people fell from a height of roughly to the ground below; the deaths of seven were determined at the scene and those of four others in the days following the incident. There were 40 injured.
