[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
International News Title: Israel Arrests Teenager as Prime Suspect in Fire Israel Arrests Teenager as Prime Suspect in Fire JERUSALEM – Israeli police say they have arrested the "prime suspect" in the nation's worst wildfire — a 14-year-old boy who says the blaze was an accident. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says the boy was arrested on Monday. Questioned by police, he told them he had been smoking a water pipe last Thursday and threw some burning coals into an open area in the Carmel forest in northern Israel. Rosenfeld says the boy told police he panicked, fled the scene and returned to school without telling anyone as the fire quickly spread through the forest. Rosenfeld would not say how police found the boy, or whether he was connected to other suspects. Police have two other youths under house arrest. Forty-two people died in the blaze. Breaking News Update: JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's top policewoman was lauded as a national hero and symbol of courage Monday after succumbing to burn wounds sustained in a rescue operation during a raging forest fire. Deputy Commander Ahuva Tomer's story of self-sacrifice has gripped the nation, which held her up in sharp contrast to harsh criticism of other leaders accused of being woefully unprepared to confront the biggest wildfire in Israel's history. Her death raised toll for five days of fires to 42. The blaze was virtually extinguished Monday, in part because of overnight rains. At a time when Israeli officials are tainted by misconduct and incompetence, 53-year-old Tomer reminded Israelis of the values of a bygone era when leaders were seen as selfless heroes. She headed the police department in Israel's third-largest city Haifa and was the highest ranked policewoman in the country. She was driving behind a bus of prison guards rushing to evacuate a prison Thursday when both vehicles were engulfed in flames. She was badly burned but clung to life for four days. News of her death dominated broadcasts throughout the day, with commanders and colleagues eulogizing her and thousands of people turning out for her funeral. Channel 10 TV showed police officers emptying bags of soil over the grave, as Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich looked on. A large pile of wreaths lay nearby. The policewoman came to personify the human tragedy of the fire after a TV reporter interviewed her just minutes before she set out on what became her last mission. She spoke of the pain of seeing the forest burn and nodding ruefully, added, "It's heartbreaking. It looks like it will last a long time." Minutes afterward, Israeli media reported, a desperate Tomer radioed police to say she was on fire. "Her last moment, when the car touched the fire, she looked out at us," said Israel's president, Nobel peace laureate Shimon Peres. "That's a moment none of us will forget ... a high point in her bravery." Aharonovich, who oversees the nation's police force, eulogized her as a "woman of valor." A former top-ranking police commander, Yaakov Borovsky, told Army Radio that "she was a leader through and through." The blaze that killed the Soviet-born Tomer has generated much soul-searching about the state of the country's leadership, because officials had long warned that the country's neglected firefighting operations were a recipe for disaster. Hours after the blaze broke out Thursday, the rescuers ran out of firefighting chemicals. They also did not have a single firefighting plane in their possession. Israel was forced to scramble to respond, appealing to other countries to send planes and material to put out the raging blaze, which on Monday had been reduced to one isolated point, according to police. The wildfire consumed a 20-square-mile (50-square-kilometer) area in the Carmel forest, a popular nature spot on Haifa's outskirts in northern Israel. Israel's vulnerability prompted critics to ask whether the nation's leaders could cope with far more serious challenges, such as rocket attacks from Iranian-backed militants or a nuclear-armed Iran. Much of the backlash is aimed at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Interior Minister Eli Yishai, a politician from the ultra-Orthodox Shas party whose office oversees fire services. Yishai made a handy target because he forcefully — and successfully — lobbies to get money for pet projects that benefit his religious and blue collar constituents. Yishai, a Jew of north African descent, has responded by accusing media critics of racism. His spiritual mentor, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, says the fire broke out as divine punishment for desecration of the Jewish Sabbath. Officials are nervously awaiting the release in the next few days of a state comptroller's report on the condition of the firefighting services. The report, whose timing is coincidental, is a follow-up to an earlier critical report of Israel's firefighting capabilities after the 2006 Lebanon war. While the fire has exposed deficiencies in Israel's top ranks, it has also generated much pride in the bravery and leadership of those such as Tomer and a 16-year-old volunteer firefighter who died trying to rescue those aboard the bus. Two teenage brothers are being held on suspicion that they inadvertently set the fire. Two other minors were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the fire and were being questioned Monday, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Most of the 17,000 people evacuated during the fire have returned to their homes. About 250 homes were damaged or destroyed, and damages overall have been estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Although the blaze was small by international standards, it was considered a calamity in Israel, where only 7 percent of the land is wooded.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread |
|
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|