A nine-year-old boy, Naftali Peretz, was killed instantly today and five other children and two adults were injured, when a gas explosion in an apartment house in Kiryat Hayovel suburb showered tons of debris on an adjacent lot where the youngsters were playing. Two of the injured children were reported in serious condition.
Initially the blast was attributed to terrorist sabotage. But police investigators announced an hour later that it was caused by a defective water heater in which excessive gas pressure had built up. The explosion destroyed the apartment in which the heater was located and the flats directly above and below it in the three story building. Other youngsters playing on the lot stopped passing cars which took the injured to the hospitals.
Police Chief Shaul Rosolio and Gen. Yona Efrat, commander of the central region where on the scene quickly along with ambulances and fire- fighting equipment. They were joined by Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek as police bulldozers sifted the wreckage for additional bodies, but none were found.
Kollek promised the occupants of the destroyed flats and neighbors whose flats also suffered damage that the city would pay for repairs. The residents made homeless by the blast will be housed at the city’s expense until it is decided whether to rebuild their flats.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
