It has been fifteen years since the Versailles wedding hall disaster that claimed the lives of 23 people and left hundreds injured, some disabled for life. The families are still waiting for compensation that was ordered by the court.

Persons who were physically injured were to receive NIS 50,000. Those who were permanently disabled and classified by Bituach Leumi as 20% disabled receive NIS 6,000 for each percentage of disability. Families of the 23 people killed were ordered to receive NIS 75,000 plus NIS 10,000 for each year their life was cut short as per an accepted table of figures. Families were also to receive NIS 10,00 towards burial costs.

Three years after the disaster, the owners of the hall were convicted in the deaths and sentenced to 2.5 years in jail. The engineer, Eli Ron, was convicted in 2006 along with others, who were sentenced to prison for a few years. Bottom line is that today, 15 years later, no one has collected the compensatory payment due them.

The disaster occurred on May 24, 2001 during the wedding of Karen and Assaf Dror. A portion of an upper floor of the wedding hall complex collapsed on the participants of the chasenah below. Police, fire, Zaka, MDA and others worked for days to sift through the rubble for survivors.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)