Man critically injured in apartment fire in central Jerusalem

A fire broke out Wednesday morning inside an apartment in Jerusalem’s city center, injuring several people including one who was listed in critical condition.

The cause of the blaze on the top floor of a building on the corner of Ben Yehuda Street and Ben Hillel Street was not immediately clear. Police said it detained for questioning two suspects who were at the scene when the fire started.

Firefighters rescued several people from the burning floor, including a man in his 50s who inhaled a large amount of smoke, received extensive medical treatment at the scene and was taken in critical and unstable condition to the capital’s Shaare Zedek hospital.

Another person suffered moderate injuries and two others were lightly hurt after inhaling smoke, and were also taken to Shaare Zedek. A woman who suffered mild injuries refused to be taken to the hospital.

Eyewitnesses told Hebrew-language media that when the fire began, one trapped man jumped to safety with help from rescue forces.

Footage from the scene showed a woman putting her head out of the window and saying: “Where are they? Come on, come on, I’m getting burned.”

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After some two hours, the eight firefighter teams at the scene managed to contain the blaze, using two cranes.