The cause of the fire in the Vienna residential area, in which two children (2 and 3 years old) had to be resuscitated, was the battery of a handheld vacuum cleaner, it was confirmed after the investigation.
The fire broke out on Monday evening at 16:48 in an apartment on Effingergasse in Vienna’s Ottakring district. At that moment, there were three children from a seven-member family originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the apartment: a 14-year-old girl was taking care of her younger brothers and sister, when suddenly the battery of the handheld vacuum cleaner burst into flames.
The teenage girl tried to put out the fire and suffered minor injuries in the process.
Firefighters, ambulance and police intervened. The rescuers found two small children in the apartment – a boy (2) and a girl (3) – in an unconscious state. The children were already in critical condition and were resuscitated in a smoke-free area inside the building. Both children are still in danger, while the older sister is in shock.
Tenant of the building Lieselotte K. (59), who lives in the same Davidhof neighborhood, witnessed the dramatic scenes. “When I looked out the window, I saw the emergency services taking two children on stretchers out of the building,” she told oe24.
– It was terrible, they didn’t move and they immediately took them to two ambulances – she added.
At first she thought it was a family incident, and only later did she learn that it was a fire in an apartment complex.
According to initial information, cardiac arrest occurred in two children, most likely as a result of smoke poisoning. Both were hospitalized and are in intensive care.
(Vijesti.ba)
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