18 hospitalized after inhaling CO at East Jerusalem beauty salon; 3 arrested

No danger remains in area following sweep by first responders, officials say; probe finds illicitly installed generator emitted poisonous gas

Eighteen women and girls were hospitalized with light to moderate wounds Wednesday after inhaling carbon monoxide that leaked from a shoddily and illicitly installed generator at an East Jerusalem beauty salon, according to the Fire and Rescue Service.

Three suspects were arrested following the gas leak at the A-Tur neighborhood salon, police said. Those arrested included the salon’s owner and her partner, according to Hebrew media reports.

The Fire Service said an initial investigation indicated that the generator was improperly hooked up in a closet, which led the poisonous gas to amass in the building. The gas combined with the salon’s hair treatment chemicals to endanger those present.

Officials added that all 18 hurt were hospitalized while fully conscious and had no life-threatening injuries, though when first responders arrived, some appeared to be in a foggy mental state. Following “monitoring and ventilation” activity, the service said there was no remaining danger to the surrounding area.

“This is an incident that could have ended in a serious tragedy,” Assistant Commissioner Shmulik Friedman, the Fire Service’s Jerusalem district commander, said in a statement, crediting the “quick action of firefighters” with “locating the source of the danger” and preventing further injury.

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“The incident demonstrates how dangerous it is to run illicitly or improperly connected generators, especially in closed spaces,” he added.

The Hadassah Medical Center said its Ein Kerem campus was attending to five women in moderate condition, and its Mount Scopus campus was attending to six women and four girls.

The Ein Kerem patients, eight of the Mount Scopus patients, and three other patients from Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center will receive treatment at a pressure chamber at the Ein Kerem hospital, Hadassah said.

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