The fire, which was reported at 9 p.m. on Tuesday night, also injured eight others and ravaged a five-story apartment building.
By SARA RUBENSTEINUpdated: OCTOBER 11, 2018 15:58
Two young children who perished in a fire in the West Bank religious settlement of Beitar Illit were laid to rest on Wednesday.The fire, which was reported at 9 p.m on Tuesday night, also injured eight others and ravaged a five-story apartment building.According to a police investigation, the fire was caused by a nightlight that exploded and fell on a bed in the apartment on the second-floor of a five-story building. The older three children, who shared a room, managed to escape the fire and run out of the apartment. The two youngest children could not be saved. They were two and four years old. The family's apartment was completely destroyed.Five people, including three adults and two children, were lightly injured and were taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. Four of them have since been released. The remaining victim, a 22-year-old man, is in moderate condition and still hospitalized.“We fought the blaze hard. It was a most difficult situation," firefighter Yeshayahu Bar-Dov told Walla! News.Bar-Dov added that firefighters climbed a ladder to remove the safety bars from windows and succeeded in saving eight people that way.“According to the rules of firefighting, we first save people who are in immediate need of assistance," Bar-Dov said. "Such a fire is so dangerous because people can choke to death very quickly from the carbon monoxide."