The soldier collapsed and was rushed to a hospital, but
medics were unable to resuscitate him, said rescue services spokesman Zaki
Heller. The race was run in temperatures around 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees
Fahrenheit).
The military identified the dead soldier as Sgt. Michael
Michalevitch, 29, who served in the military’s canine Special Forces.
Four other runners who collapsed from the heat were put in
medically induced comas and are on respirators at a Tel Aviv hospital, Heller
said. In total, medics treated more than 50 runners at the race, he said.
Yitzhak Aharonovich, Israel’s public security minister said
on Israel Radio that the incident was “very serious” and suggested that race
organizers could be held responsible for not cancelling the race after heat was
predicted.
The Tel Aviv municipality expressed regret over the death of
the runner but defended its actions, saying it had followed the instructions of
health officials. It postponed the full marathon of 42.2 kilometers (26.2
miles) initially scheduled for Friday in anticipation of the heat wave, and
started the half-marathon of 21.1 kilometers (13.1 miles) earlier in the
morning to avoid the hottest temperatures.
The municipality said in a statement that when the runner died,
Israel’s national weather service had reported only a light heat wave.