An approximately 80-year-old man was found dead Sunday evening inside a burning vehicle after a fire broke out in the underground parking garage of a residential building in Rishon Lezion, south of Tel Aviv.
Police said there was no immediate suspicion of criminal activity. The body of the driver was sent to the National Center of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv for identification and examination.
אותר אדם באחד הרכבים הבוערים בחניון תת-קרקעי בראשון לציון
(Video: Kobi Richter/Fire and Rescue Services, Magen David Adom)
According to an initial assessment, the fire began in an electric vehicle. Investigators believe the vehicle may have crashed into a wall in the garage and caught fire, with the flames then spreading to several other vehicles.
The fire broke out on the first underground level of a 20-story residential building on Ahi Lahav Street in the Neve Hof neighborhood. The two-level underground garage is shared by several buildings.
הנזק שנגרם לחניון התת-קרקעי בעקבות השריפה
(Video: Kobi Richter/Fire and Rescue Services)
Heavy smoke filled the garage and began spreading into the residential building, prompting authorities to instruct residents to remain inside their apartments. Electricity to the building was shut off.
Seventeen fire engines and 34 firefighters worked for about three hours to extinguish the blaze.
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Firefighters found a man inside one of several burning vehicles in an underground parking garage in Rishon Lezion. He was later pronounced dead at the scene
Damage inside the underground parking garage in Rishon Lezion after a fire that spread between several vehicles
(Photo: Meir Turgeman)
Fire and Rescue Services said crews operated in heavy smoke to reach the man inside the vehicle and transfer him to medical personnel. His death was pronounced after the fire was extinguished.
Firefighters also extinguished several other burning vehicles and searched the garage and surrounding areas for additional people who might have been trapped, while working to prevent the fire from spreading.
Ina Goldberg, a resident of the area, told ynet that she had been walking her dog when she returned home and learned there was a fire in the garage.
Firefighters search the residential building in Rishon Lezion for anyone who may have been trapped after a fire broke out in the underground parking garage
(Photo: Kobi Richter/Fire and Rescue Services)
Damage inside the underground parking garage in Rishon Lezion after a fire that spread between several vehicles
(Photo: Meir Turgeman)
“I went upstairs to get my husband and daughter, who left the building, and then I went back down to the garage to get my car out and saw smoke,” she said.
Goldberg said she saw a man grab a hose and opened the building’s water valve. She also saw a vehicle burning.
“At some point I ran because there was so much smoke,” she said. “Then the firefighters arrived, and I told them to go to where the burning car was.”
The exterior of the residential building in Rishon Lezion where a fire broke out in the underground parking garage
(Photo: Meir Turgeman)
Emergency medical and rescue teams stand outside the residential building in Rishon Lezion during the response to a deadly underground garage fire
(Photo: Magen David Adom)
Her daughter, Anna, who was with her, said they later heard that a neighbor had died.
“It’s sad,” she said.
Police opened an investigation into the circumstances of the fire. Officers from the Rishon Lezion station began collecting evidence at the scene, including security camera footage, in an effort to determine what happened before the apparent crash.
Fire and rescue crews gather outside the residential building in Rishon Lezion as they respond to a fire in the underground parking garage
(Photo: Meir Turgeman)
Fire and rescue crews gather outside the residential building in Rishon Lezion as they respond to a fire in the underground parking garage
(Photo: Magen David Adom)
Fire investigators were also called to determine what caused the electric vehicle to catch fire.
Authorities said the initial assessment was that the blaze followed a single-vehicle crash, though the circumstances remained under investigation.