Firefighter Dekel Marciano, 33, succumbed to wounds he sustained in an attempt to extricate a man from an eight-meter pit, two days after another firefighter died in the rescue mission as did the trapped man himself.
“The firefighter suffered a multi-system injury, which included an injury to his respiratory system, damage to blood vessels and kidneys, and suspected brain damage,” said the Galilee Medical Center director of the General and Respiratory Intensive Care Department at the hospital, Dr. Uriel Trahtemberg.
“Due to his kidney condition, he was connected to a dialysis machine overnight, but unfortunately, this did not help and his blood pressure began to drop gradually. Early in the morning, in his last hours, his family was called to his bedside and his condition was explained to them. His death was pronounced at around 7 a.m.”
The deadly accident
The incident occurred in the Arab town of Deir el-Asad, in northern Galilee on Sunday.
Samad al-Aramin, a 22-year-old Hebron resident, was working in Deir el-Asad when he fell into the pit. Aramin, who was unconscious when he was pulled out of the pit, was treated by Magen David Adom paramedics before being rushed to the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya in critical condition.
He died shortly after.
MDA paramedic Eddy Zugot told the media that the two firefighters “also lost consciousness as they were entering the pit in order to rescue the man.”
Paramedics treated the two firefighters at the scene after pulling them out and they were also rushed to the same hospital via helicopter.
Firefighter Adnan Assad, who was the first to arrive at the scene, was pronounced dead on Monday.
Police opened an investigation into the circumstances that led to the Hebron resident’s fall and subsequent death.