Toddler slips and dies in unlocked Bnei Brak ritual bath on Yom Kippur

MDA treats 2,566 people for heat exhaustion and road injuries

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
mikveh mikvah 224 88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
mikveh mikvah 224 88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
A four-year-old girl drowned on Yom Kippur in a mikve that had been left open in Bnei Brak.
She and her brother had entered the building on Neufeld Street containing the ritual bath when she slipped and fell. Her brother rushed out to call for help.
Medics and paramedics of United Hatzalah who were alerted rushed to the scene and performed emergency resuscitation and she was rushed to the hospital by a mobile intensive care unit where she was declared dead.
Expecting many thousands of Jewish worshipers to gather at the Western Wall in Jerusalem at the start of Yom Kippur on Friday evening, police undertook numerous preemptive security measures for the duration of the fast. Army Radio reported Saturday Security crossings into Israel from the West Bank were temporarily closed Friday and were to open again following Yom Kippur in accordance with security assessments adopted by the IDF.
Magen David Adom on Saturday night reported that its medics and paramedics had dealt with 2,566 incidents in which 1,973 of them were transferred to hospitals for continued treatment. The cases included dehydration and injuries from road accidents and bicycles and other wheeled vehicles.
The high temperatures caused 130 people to faint; 16 needing resuscitation; and 63 were taken to hospitals around the country. Six women gave birth at home before they could reach the hospital; paramedics and medics delivered the babies.
Over 200 children were hurt while on skateboards, skates and bicycles and needed to be treated. A nine-year-old Haifa girl fell from her bike and injured her head; she was taken to Rambam Medical Center in moderate to serious condition.
MDA also said that, unconnected to the fast, a 15-year-old boy fell from an Ashdod building, apparently while playing a game involving jumping between buildings. He was taken in moderate condition to Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot with fractures. In Netanya, a 30-year-old man fell 10 meters and was killed.
There were three incidents of rocks thrown at MDA ambulances by children and youths in Kiryat Shmona and Netanya; MDA said they were not haredim.
In the Upper Galilee, fire fighters scrambled to control a large forest fire near the village of Amirim on Saturday evening. The blaze began Saturday afternoon, and there were no reports of injuries, Israel Radio said. Residents of the village were evacuated from their homes and Route 866 was blocked in both directions.
Firefighters succeeded in partially extinguishing the blaze, allowing some residents to return to their homes.
MDA calls on the public to donate blood because of the seasonal shortage.
Contact http://mdais.org/dam for more information.