A second victim has been claimed by the deadly stampede that occurred at the Bnei Brak funeral of leading haredi Rabbi Shmuel Wosner on Saturday night, after 18-year-old Yitzhak Samet was declared dead by the Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva on Wednesday.
Samet was one of four who were critically wounded by being trampled during the funeral as some 100,000 mourners surged towards the stretcher bearing the body of Rabbi Wosner.
A police investigation has indicated that due to the massive crowds Samet fell on the stairs at the exit from the Hochmei Lublin Yeshiva as the stretcher was brought out, and was consequently trampled.
He was given medical treatment at the scene by rescue teams before being evacuated to Beilinson Hospital in extremely critical condition, suffering from severe damage to his lungs and suffocation evidently caused by the pressure of the pushing crowd. The blockage of air inflicted brain damage.
The medical teams continued to provide him with medical treatment ever since the incident on Saturday night, but were forced to pronounce his death on Wednesday afternoon.
A minyan (prayer quorum of ten) was called to join his family around his bed to recite Psalms and scriptural lines for one who has passed.
The first fatality of the incident was 27 year-old Mordechai Gerber, a resident of Elad who leaves behind a wife and three-year-old son. Gerber was himself orphaned at a young age, and Rabbi Wosner assisted him and supported him.