A Caterpillar bulldozer amid construction of the Israeli security fence. Photo: Justin McIntosh.

JNS.org – One man was killed and another two were injured when a tunnel collapsed at an underground construction plant in Israel on Friday.

At least eight workers were briefly trapped some 50 meters underground at the Ma’ale Gilboa Power Station tunnel near Beit Shean when an above-ground crane fell on it. The workers were building an underground hydroelectricity facility at the site, which works by pumping water up from a low reservoir to a station at the top of Mount Gilboa and then letting it spill down in an underground waterfall onto a large turbine, generating extra electricity for the national grid.

The identities of the men affected were not immediately publicized.

The wounded men, both in their 30s, were evacuated by helicopter to Haemek Hospital in Afula. Ambulances, mobile ICU units and a helicopter scrambled to the site.

Police have launched an investigation into the accident.