BD”E: Five Members of Jewish Family Killed in Buenos Aires Fire

Five members of a frum family died in a deadly fire that engulfed their apartment at the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Recoleta on Thursday morning, June 24.

Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA), the Jewish Community Centre in Buenos Aires, confirmed that all the five victims were of the Jabbaz family, a prominent frum family belonging to Kehillas Chafetz Chaim.

The family was trapped when the fire, apparently the result of a lithium battery that caught fire, quickly spread throughout the upper floors of the building. The father, Yitzchak, who was severely burned in his attempt to rescue his family, is in critical condition with burns all over his body and suffering from smoke inhalation.

Despite his valiant efforts and those of the fire department and the paramedics, the mother, Sara (nee Kabudi, age forty nine), three daughters, Camila (17), Esther (9) and Orly (7), and a young son Rafi (3), expired on the way to the hospital.

In addition, another 30 people were injured in the blaze, which started at approximately 5:00 a.m. as flames broke out on the seventh floor of a fourteen-floor building on Calle Ecuador near Avenida Córdoba in the Recoleta neighborhood of the capitol of the country. Firefighters responded quickly but it took several hours to bring the flames under control.

Kevurah took place on Friday in the Bene Emeth cemetery in Lomas de Zamora in the southern outskirts of the city.

Yehei zichram baruch.