Proud parents
Proud parentsZAKA photo
On Monday morning, on highway 443 leading into Jerusalem, in the middle of a massive traffic jam caused by the snow remaining from the weekend's storm, a volunteer for the emergency medical services group ZAKA delivered a baby in a car.

Araleh Pamp, a senior medic with ZAKA, began aiding in delivery after hearing a man calling for help, saying his wife was in labor. Pamp was helped by a midwife who was similarly stuck in traffic.

"I was on my way to work in Jerusalem when suddenly I heard a 40 year old man call for urgent help, I ran to the car with my bag of medical equipment and saw a woman in labor. I asked the driver of a station-wagon to clear room, we folded down the rear seats and I began full delivery," recalls Pamp, adding "at the same time, I notified the ZAKA center and they called an ambulance. There was a midwife in the traffic jam who helped me in the delivery."

After several minutes the baby was born, and an hour later it had been evacuated by ambulance to the hospital.

"It was a very emotional moment when I gave the mother her newborn infant to hold; she told me that she never thought that the birth of her fourteenth child would happen in a car," remarked Pamp. "When they left home they heard the road was clear and they thought they could make it to the hospital, thank G-d the mother and baby are healthy."

Mother and child ZAKA photo

The baby (lower right) ZAKA photo