The first emergency crews to arrive at the scene of the disaster at an unregulated day care center in Jerusalem were stunned by what they encountered. Fifty five infants were inside the facility, which operated out of two connected apartments in an old residential building, and some of the babies were sleeping in bathrooms.
Disturbing footage from the scene shows an infant sleeping beneath a toilet, with two additional mattresses nearby, indicating that other babies were also sleeping inside the small bathroom.
Footage from the day care
Rescue teams said infants were found sleeping inside wardrobes, in hallways and in bathrooms. According to responders, dozens of babies were crowded into the small space, sleeping on top of one another inside closets and next to toilets. They added that an air conditioning unit was operating at extremely high heat, creating dry conditions that posed a serious risk to life. Witnesses said that when first responders arrived, employees at the facility initially tried to prevent them from entering all of the rooms.
Regarding food, the caregiver told investigators that she had given the babies only milk in the morning.
Footage from the Jerusalem day care
(Video: News Channel 13)
The Education Ministry said in a statement: “This is an extremely serious and tragic incident that is under investigation. According to the initial information, this was a private facility operating without the license required by law. The ministry is in contact with the relevant authorities and continues to collect and examine the details of the incident. By nature, it is not possible to expand further at this stage.”
An infant boy and an infant girl, aged two months and four months, died at the facility in the early afternoon. Another 53 infants were evacuated to hospitals suffering from breathing difficulties, after what was believed to be the release of a chemical substance from a heating device. The bodies of the two infants were transferred to the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine for autopsy.
Fire and Rescue Services said that following an examination, suspicion of a hazardous materials incident at the day care center was ruled out. The facility is located in two apartments in a building on HaMag Street in the Romema neighborhood. Police evacuated the infants together with fire and rescue teams, and three caregivers were detained for questioning as part of an investigation that has been opened. Neighbors and local residents said the day care center had been operating at the location for many years.
United Hatzalah volunteer medic Ze’ev Klein, one of the first to arrive at the scene, said: “I began performing CPR in the living room on a toddler who had lost consciousness, and afterward another toddler was found unconscious in a bedroom. I performed resuscitation on him as well while connecting a defibrillator. Both were evacuated in critical condition to hospitals. A United Hatzalah intensive care unit and ambulances evacuated another 21 children from the scene in mild condition and fully conscious.”
Another United Hatzalah medic, Danny Shmueli, told ynet: “The place was extremely crowded, with strollers in the kitchen and hallways. I woke several children who were in strollers and they needed to be evacuated. At first we thought it was poisoning or a leak, but the fire department ruled that out. The staff at the scene were initially very agitated and refused to cooperate. Later they cooperated more, but they were clearly distressed.”
At the same time, medical teams were treating two additional resuscitation cases involving infants in other parts of the country. Magen David Adom teams were dispatched to an apartment in Safed to treat a two week old baby girl found unconscious without a pulse or breathing, and she was evacuated to Ziv Medical Center in critical condition. In addition, emergency crews were called to a playground in a community in the southern Sharon region to treat a three week old baby girl in critical condition, who was evacuated to Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikva.