Man dies from hypothermia as cold snap chills country

A man died from hypothermia in the coastal city of Bat Yam on Thursday, the first fatality in a series of incidents caused by the sudden drop in temperatures during the week.

In the morning Magen David Adom paramedics were called to Independence Avenue, where they found the victim on a bench unconscious, cold, without a pulse and not breathing.

Medics tried to resuscitate the 50-year-old man, who was apparently homeless, including massaging his body and giving him emergency medication.

He was taken to Wolfson Medical Center in Holon where he died several hours later.

Since the start of the week, there have been four other incidents of hypothermia, as temperatures in many parts of the country dropped to freezing.

An 88-year-old man, also from Bat Yam, was hospitalized in serious condition on Wednesday. Doctors said his body temperature had dropped to just 28 degrees centigrade (82.4 degrees Fahrenheit).

On Monday, a week-old baby girl from the settlement of Ariel was rushed to Schneider Children’s Hospital in Petah Tikva, where she was treated for hypothermia and later released.

In two other cases of hypothermia, one person was hospitalized in moderate condition and another in good condition, due to the cold weather.

Since the beginning of the week, temperatures have been declining. Snow fell on Monday afternoon and Tuesday in high-elevation areas, though there was little accumulation and it had mostly melted by Tuesday morning.

The city of Jerusalem had prepared for snow with over 200 snow plows, tractors deployed with tons of salt across the city and police ready to shut the major highways leading into the capital, but little to no snow arrived.