ISRAEL: Torah scrolls evacuated from explosion site as death toll from suspected gas leak blast in Netanya climbs to four

Record ID: 395947

  • Title: ISRAEL: Torah scrolls evacuated from explosion site as death toll from suspected gas leak blast in Netanya climbs to four
  • Date: 18th June 2011
  • Summary: NETANYA, ISRAEL (JUNE 17, 2011) (REUTERS) DAMAGED FRONT OF APARTMENT BUILDING HIT BY SUSPECTED GAS EXPLOSION INJURED WOMAN EVACUATED BY MEDICS FROM SITE ON STRETCHER DAMAGE TO STREET BENCHES ZAKA RESCUE SERVICE VOLUNTEER CARRYING TORAH SCROLL FROM SYNAGOGUE DAMAGED IN EXPLOSION
  • Embargoed: 3rd July 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel, Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Disasters,Religion,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA34SKU6K0J8VY8XA9T8KOW6TUS
  • Story Text: A huge blast, which emergency workers believe was caused by a gas leak, killed four people in in the coastal Israeli city of Netanya early on Friday (June 17).
    After tens of injured were evacuated from the scene, a Reuters video showed Ultra Orthodox Jewish volunteers of the Zaka rescue service placing a Torah scroll in an ambulance. The scroll was found in a synagogue that resided in the damaged building.
    Police were still investigating what caused the midnight explosion that rocked the four-story building, but a fire department officer told Israel Radio that all signs pointed to an accidental gas explosion. However, Israeli websites reported that on Thursday (June 16), a man was investigated by local police after being seen walking around the building's gas canisters. According to the report, police has released the man after interrogation but re-arrested him after the blast. The man was possibly trying to steal copper pipes used by the building's gas system, other Israeli websites suggest.
    "All of a sudden, boom! The shed from my shop collapsed, all my employees were injured, broken glass fell all over the tables, everything crashed," a local shop owner told reporters. "There was an explosion, and we felt all the shrapnel on us. We tried to escape as quickly as possible, but we were slightly injured in our hands and heads," said a man who sat with his brothers in a coffee shop near the site of the explosion.
    According to Israeli police, at least 30 people were injured in the blast.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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