2-year-old girl who died in Beersheba blaze buried

A 2-year-old girl who was killed on Sunday night in an apartment fire in Beersheba was laid to rest overnight as her brother remained in very serious condition. Their 8-year-old sister, who made a dramatic leap to safety that was recorded on video, has been released from hospital.

Hundreds of family, friends and local residents came to the late-night funeral for toddler Sarah Shafadov, who died as the fire engulfed an eighth-story apartment in the southern city.

“We are in total shock of the terrible tragedy that hit this kind family,” said a relative. “The father was at work when it happened. The mother was in a different floor in the house, and they both cannot understand or accept the tragedy.”

Many members of the religious family cried continuously during the funeral at the city’s new cemetery, Hebrew-language media reported, and the father carried his own daughter’s body during the procession.

The girl died after being rushed to a local hospital and her brother, Shneur Zalman Shafadov, remains in life-threatening condition in Soroka Medical Center, reports said. He was transferred to a high-pressure oxygen chamber during the night.

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Video showed an 8-year-old girl escaping the blaze by standing on a balcony, where neighbors a few floors below saw her, held out a bed sheet, and called for her to leap into the sheet.

The girl is seen on footage hesitating before leaping to safety.

She and a six-month old brother also rescued from the fire were taken to the hospital with light injuries and later released.

The mother told police she was on another floor when the blaze broke out in the dining room. Firefighters are still investigating the cause of the fire, which may be a power outlet or an air-conditioning system, though they haven’t ruled out the possibility that the children were playing with matches.

“The shift commander asked to go upstairs. We went into one of the bedrooms which two children’s beds. In one of them we found a little girl and afterwards we discovered a child under the bed,” said Staff Sergeant Aharon Malka. “There was zero visibility, so we used the flashlights and felt around to located them.”