Boy, 10, dies after recycling bin explosion in Beitar Illit, Ynet reports

A 10-year-old boy was critically injured on Wednesday afternoon in Beitar Illit, a town south-west of Jerusalem, and was later reported to have died. According to Magen David Adom, Israel's national emergency medical service, a call came in to its Jerusalem region dispatch centre at 16:56 about a child hurt on HaRebbe MiNadvorna Street. Its medics and paramedics found the boy unconscious, with injuries to multiple body systems.

In a follow-up message, Magen David Adom said the boy was in critical condition, with severe burns across his body as well as multi-system trauma, and that crews were carrying out resuscitation while taking him to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem. Hours later, the Israeli news site Ynet reported that the child had been killed in the explosion of a recycling bin, and identified him as Eliyahu Azriel.

What the emergency service reported

Magen David Adom, whose Hebrew name translates as "Red Shield of David", is Israel's equivalent of an ambulance and paramedic service and a member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The public reaches it by dialling 101, and it issues brief updates on serious incidents through its spokesperson's office, often within minutes of a call.

Its two statements on this incident describe the medical picture only. The first noted that the boy was unconscious and had suffered what Israeli medics call multi-system trauma, meaning injuries affecting several parts of the body at once, such as the head, chest and limbs. The second added the burns and the fact that resuscitation was under way during the journey to hospital. A patient described as being in critical condition while receiving resuscitation is, in Israeli emergency terminology, at immediate risk of death.

Neither Magen David Adom statement mentioned an explosion or a recycling bin. The cause of the injuries appears in the material only in Ynet's later report.

Where it happened

Beitar Illit is a Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox Jewish, town in the West Bank, located a short drive from Jerusalem's southern edge. It is one of the largest Israeli settlements and is known for its young population and large families. Many of its streets are named after rabbis and Hasidic dynasties; HaRebbe MiNadvorna Street takes its name from the Nadvorna Rebbe, the title of the leader of a Hasidic movement that originated in the town of Nadvirna in present-day Ukraine.

Because Beitar Illit sits close to Jerusalem, Magen David Adom handles calls there through its Jerusalem region, and seriously injured patients are commonly taken to the city's major hospitals.

The hospital

Hadassah Ein Kerem is one of Jerusalem's two main Hadassah Medical Center campuses and one of the country's principal trauma centres, located on the south-western outskirts of the city. It treats a large share of the most serious injury cases from the Jerusalem area and the surrounding region, including children.

How the accounts differ

The two organisations reported at different stages of the incident, and their accounts should be read together rather than as contradictory. Magen David Adom's messages, sent within roughly half an hour of the call, describe a boy who was alive but critically injured. Ynet's report, published several hours later, states that the boy was killed and names him. The material does not include a statement from Hadassah Ein Kerem or from Magen David Adom confirming the death, so the report of his death and his identity rest on Ynet's account.

What the reports do not say

The reports leave a number of basic questions unanswered. They do not explain what caused the recycling bin to explode, what was inside it, or whether anyone else was nearby or hurt. They do not say whether the police or any other authority have opened an investigation, or whether the explosion is being treated as an accident or otherwise. They do not state when or where the boy was pronounced dead, and they give no details about his family. Israel.com will update this report if further official information becomes available.