Ramadan Rescue Of Muslim Man In Jewish Town of Neriya
A Muslim construction worker in his 40s was working on a new construction site near the horse ranch in the town of Neriya in western Binyamin. During his work with a cement mixer, he was accidentally electrocuted, causing a power outage throughout the town. Eyewitnesses who saw the incident called emergency services for help.
Several United Hatzalah volunteers including Yedidya Landesberg, David Musenjad, Pinchas Menachem Ben Hamo, Yosef Yitzchak Kovalkein, Uri Ofri, and Yosef Friedman received the alert and responded to the emergency.
Yedidya Landesberg who was one of the three responders who arrived first at the scene said, “Suddenly I noticed that the electricity went out throughout the whole town and I wondered what caused it. I live in an area of the town where there is no cell reception and my connection to the outside world is via the internet. When the power went down, so did the internet, but I was able to receive a text message from a friend on the security team that there is an emergency in the town and I headed out to assist.”
“When I arrived together with Uri and David we rushed to the worker who had collapsed on the ground,” Landesberg continued. “The worker was in his 40s and had suffered severe electrocution. We checked the man to see if he was breathing and if he had a pulse and we found none. The shock was so powerful that it stopped his heart. Without wasting a moment we launched into CPR.”
Landesberg added: “David attached a defibrillator while Uri and I began compressions and assisted ventilation. We performed CPR for 15 minutes and after receiving numerous shocks from the defibrillator, the man’s pulse returned.”
Ofri was working from home when he saw the power go out and moments later he saw the alert and rushed out of his house and headed to the scene of the emergency where he joined Yedidya and David. He added: “Today is the first day of Ramadan and this man was fasting in celebration of the new month. The fact that he was fasting made the CPR that much harder, and he needed to receive fluids as well as medication. I am happy that we were able to save his life and I hope that he makes a full recovery so that he can go home and celebrate the rest of the holiday with his family. I am thankful that I had the opportunity to help him and that he survived.”
