A man of 60 and a woman of 64 suffered severe injuries early Wednesday morning in an apartment fire in Ashkelon, Kikar Hashabbat reported.
The two were evacuated from the apartment unconscious, and transferred to a hospital.
At 2:15a.m. Wednesday morning, the Fire and Rescue Services received a report of a wooden pergola burning in the yard of a building. Firefighters from the Ashkelon fire station quickly responded to the scene, and while making their way there received an update that the fire had spread to an apartment and that people were trapped inside.
Shift commander Yaniv Elbaz said, "When we arrived at the scene of the event, it became clear to us that there were certainly people trapped in the apartment. I instructed the firefighters to concentrate efforts on saving lives as the top priority. Two residents were evacuated from the apartment in serious condition and transferred to receive continued medical care."
Further searches of the scene ensured that no one else was trapped.
A fire investigator from the Ashkelon station arrived to investigate the circumstances of the fire.