Gas technician involved in home explosion suspended for 60 days

Court ruling comes after probe into four deaths at Jerusalem apartment complex uncovers man’s questionable work history.

By DANIEL K. EISENBUD, JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Scene of Jerusalem apartment blast, January 20, 2013 (photo credit: COURTESY UNITED HATZALAH)
Scene of Jerusalem apartment blast, January 20, 2013
(photo credit: COURTESY UNITED HATZALAH)
The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ruled on Sunday that the Supergas technician suspected of negligence, causing the deaths of a family of three and their neighbor, is to be suspended from work for 60 days.
The technician, whose name remains under a court-ordered gag order, was arrested following a powerful explosion in Jerusalem’s Gilo neighborhood apartment complex last month.
The technician inspected a gas leak in the Tufan family home and left the scene minutes before the explosion killed parents Avraham and Galit, ages 56 and 42, and their twoyear- old son, Yosef Haim.
Neighbor, Linda Schvartz, 50, was rushed to Hadassah University Medical Center, in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem, in critical condition following the blast, but died last week.
Schvartz was the only child of two living Holocaust survivors residing in Jerusalem.
The technician was arrested shortly after the blast, but was released from custody the following day after his attorney argued that he did not leave the apartment until he believed the problem had been resolved.
The gas in the building complex was shut down for one week following the explosion, pending ongoing investigations.