A 59-year-old heart patient has died and nearly a dozen first responders are hurt after a crash involving an FDNY vehicle and an ambulance early Thursday. Rana Novini reports.
What to Know
- A 59-year-old man died and nearly a dozen first responders were hurt when a fire truck collided with an ambulance in Brooklyn early Thursday
- The fire truck had been responding to a fire when it hit the driver's side of the ambulance, causing the ambulance to hit a Honda stopped at a light
- Six firefighters in the truck, two EMTs in the ambulance and two people in the Honda were all taken to hospitals; a woman in the back of the ambulance with the patient was hospitalized in critical condition
A 59-year-old heart patient has died and nearly a dozen first responders are hurt after a crash involving an FDNY vehicle and an ambulance early Thursday.
Authorities say the fire truck was responding to a nearby fire, moving west on Myrtle Avenue near Throop around 1:45 a.m., at the same time the ambulance was transporting the patient and an accompanying woman to a hospital.
The fire truck hit the ambulance on the driver's side, rear axle area, causing the ambulance to in turn strike a Honda CRV, occupied by two adults, which was stopped at the traffic signal on Myrtle Avenue. The 59-year-old man was in the back of the ambulance, along with the 35-year-old woman accompanying him.
He died; she remains hospitalized in critical condition.
Two EMTs who had been in the ambulance were taken to a hospital -- one with a leg injury, the other with different pain-related complaints. Six FDNY firefighters who had been in the fire truck were also taken to hospitals with various complaints, though officials say all the first responders are expected to be OK.
The two people in the Honda were also transported to a hospital in stable condition. Authorities say their investigation is ongoing.
Local
A family member identified the dead man as Jamil Almansouri, a bodega owner on Throop Avenue, and the injured woman as his sister. Police have not confirmed the man's identity or his cause of death. Relatives said he had a heart condition.
Nabeel Yahya, a family friend of the victim, said Almansouri felt weak and tired so he told his sister to call the ambulance for him. Yahya said the scene of the collision was so dramatic it appeared as if no one had survived.
The fire truck had been responding to a blaze in a fifth-floor apartment at an eight-story building. Two civilians were injured in the fire but both are expected to survive, fire officials said.
