Firefighters (illustration)
Firefighters (illustration)Yossi Zamir/Flash 90

One person was killed and a second seriously injured after a fire broke out in an apartment in the coastal town of Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv on Tuesday.

The fire broke out in an apartment building on Balfour Street in Bat Yam early Tuesday morning. Emergency first responders and fire and rescue teams were called to the scene.

Two people were found in the apartment where the blaze broke out – a 94-year-old man and a woman roughly 80 years of age.

MDA medical teams were forced to declare the 94-year-old man dead at the scene. First responders say the man’s body was covered with burns, and that he had no vital signs by the time he was pulled from the apartment.

The second victim, a woman roughly 80 years old, was treated for smoke inhalation before being evacuated in serious condition to Wolfson Medical Center in Holon.

“When we go to the scene, we saw smoke and fire in the second floor of an apartment building,” said MDA paramedic Meir Walder.

“A woman, about 80 years old, was rescued from the building while she was fully conscious, suffering from smoke inhalation. We immediately provided her with medical treatment, including breathing oxygen. She was then evacuated to Wolfson hospital.”

“Firefighters working at the scene managed to extinguish the blaze, and conducted a search of the apartment and found a victim, unconscious, who was suffering from serious burns. We entered the apartment to provide medical treatment, but he had no vital signs and we were forced to declare his death.”