A 7-month-old child from a chareidi family was niftar on Tuesday evening, the fourth night of Chanukah, in Jerusalem’s Givat Shaul/Kiryat Moshe area. The first Ichud (United) Hatzalah EMT to arrive on the scene, Moshe Levy, reported neighbors told him the child was being watched by neighbors as the parents were not in. It appears the child choked on a plastic bag that he was playing with.

The EMTs found the baby in cardiac arrest and began CPR. A Magen David Adom paramedic team accompanied by a physician arrived on the scene and despite advanced life support rescue efforts, the child was pronounced dead on the scene by the physician.

MDA spokesman Danny Rothenberg reports the call came in for Nissanbaum Street in Kiryat Moshe, confirming the MDA physician pronounced the 7-month-old dead after resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful. Police are investigating to determine if there was negligence and if criminal charges might follow.

Another tragedy struck earlier on Tuesday, 27 Kislev 5773, in Bnei Brak, where another child died. The call came in for an unconscious child on Rabbi Akiva Street. Hatzalah Gush Dan EMT Menachem Indig was downstairs when he received the call, so he was on the scene in a matter of seconds. When he arrived, Menachem immediately evaluated the situation and called for backup to the MDA dispatcher. He began attempting to resuscitate the child, followed by advanced life support efforts when the MDA paramedic team arrived on the scene. The child was transported with CPR in progress to Mayanei HaYeshua Hospital but he did not survive.

United Hatzalah’s Ze’ev Tefer, who lives in the building and was among the first on the scene, reports this victim was also 7-month-old.

In the latter case, the cause for the cardiac arrest is not known or unreported.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)