Four Israeli yeshiva students were injured in a fire that broke out on the second floor of an apartment they rented near the Chabad World Center in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. One of them, a 20-year-old from Lod, is in critical condition after fainting and being trapped in the burning apartment for about 20 minutes. In addition to the yeshiva students, three firefighters were also slightly injured.
Eyewitnesses who were at the scene told Ynet that the fire department initially declared the 20-year-old dead, but rescue teams managed to revive him, and he is now hospitalized in a Manhattan hospital in critical and life-threatening condition.
Another yeshiva student, a 20-year-old from Jerusalem, was moderately injured, and two other young men were lightly injured and are hospitalized in a Queens hospital.
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Firefighters inside the still-burging apartment in Crown Height neighborhood of Brooklyn, New Yorkן
(Photo: X platform)
The fire, which was apparently caused by an outdoor radiator plugged into an electrical outlet, started while the students were sleeping and spread quickly. The apartment, where 19 students were living, was completely engulfed in flames, and all their personal belongings were burned. "We are all still in shock," one of them said. "It all happened so fast."
One of the students who survived said that it was a "total trauma. Three guys jumped out of the window into the yard, and one fell on his face. Two were completely covered in soot, one had his face completely peeled off. It was terrible." The student added that "I saw someone trapped for 15 minutes as the roo burned. It was just terrible, A neighbor poured a bucket of water on him, that may have saved his life. They took him out of the room after 20 minutes, passed out. He looked like a piece of coal."
The student who survived the fire added that "it's a three-apartment building with 19 guys - including the four who were injured. All my clothes were destroyed, the only thing that was saved was the tefillin and the passport. We were given half an hour to take what we could take, to save what we could. We were on the first floor, which somehow suffered the least damage, and everything was still black, everything was sooty. I tried to lift the mattress of the bed and it was impossible. Everything was gone - the mattress, the clothes."
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The apartment that caught fire near the Chabad World Center in Brooklyn
(Photo: X platform)
"The consulate is taking care of new passports for us, because there are guys flying this week," he explained. "They arranged for us an alternative apartment, they arranged for us clothing, whatever is possible. I'm staying to study, but the injured Israelis will return home."
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Israel's Consul General in New York, Ofir Akunis, held a series of discussions and meetings after learning of the fire. At his direction, staff from the consulate visited the hospitals where the injured were hospitalized, and consular services will be provided.
"We are assisting all Israeli citizens who were injured in the fire that broke out in Crown Heights and are providing them with all the services as official representatives of the State of Israel in New York," Akunis said. "I wish all the injured a speedy and full recovery."