ceremony from an assembly area on the other side of the river. Collapse As scheduled during the opening ceremony, the participating athletes, teamed with their respective national delegations, began to cross the bridge and enter the stadium in alphabetical order. The second nation to cross the bridge, following the Austrian team, consisted of the 373 members of the Australian delegation. As the Australian athletes, in parallel rows of six, crossed the river, the bridge's support beams at roughly mid-span snapped, plunging around 100 of the Australians eight metres into the river below. Several of the fallen were forcibly submerged in the 1.6-metre deep river by the weight of falling athletes above them. Dozens struggled to get out of the river, and many linked arms to form a human chain to pull each other out. Some of the fallen were caught in the bridge's twisted beams. Other athletes, bystanders, event staff, soldiers, and police leapt into the river to rescue the fallen. About 20 ambulances were rushed to the scene and helicopters with spotlights and divers were sent in to assist in rescue efforts. Due to the Yarkon River's banks being steep and muddy, rescuers had to use ropes to descend to the water's edge. Inside the stadium, Israeli government officials, including President Ezer Weizman, chose to continue with the opening ceremony, but canceled the remainder of the march of the national teams into the stadium. Israeli television maintained live coverage, switching back and forth between the frantic rescue efforts outside the stadium and the festive dancing and light shows inside. Weizman and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed immediately upon the end of the ceremony to visit the victims in hospital and the games were suspended for 24 hours. The injured were taken to nearby Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva and Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. One, Gregory Small, 37, a bowler from Sydney, was dead on arrival, apparently as a result of injuries or drowning caused by the fall. The remaining survivors did not appear to have sustained life-threatening injuries. Their injuries included broken bones and water inhalation. Infections Within an hour or two of admission to the hospital, a number of victims began to show signs of asphyxia. Doctors discovered that an unidentified organism was attacking their respiratory systems and pulmonary blood vessels. By the next morning, seven athletes were in critical condition. Patrick Surkin, who ran the