Fifteen soldiers were injured and eight are missing in a fire that broke out early this morning in an army base in Samaria. There was no immediate indication of the cause of the fire which swept through the 16-room base within a matter of minutes as several dozen soldiers were asleep. There were no signs of arson.
The fire broke out long after the electric power generator in the base had been turned off. The initial investigation, therefore, ruled out the possibility that a short circuit had caused the fire. Investigators pointed out that the fire had spread quickly because the soldiers’ sleeping quarters were in prefabricated housing, made of highly flammable material.
The speed with which the fire spread and the intense heat, made rescue work difficult and dangerous. A senior army officer expressed surprise that soldiers would be housed in such a flammable building.
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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.
