CAIRO, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) — At least 41 people were killed and 12 injured in a massive fire that broke out in a Coptic church in Egypt’s Giza Province on Sunday, the Egyptian Health Ministry said.
The accident took place in Abu Sifin church in the Imbaba neighborhood, according to the ministry.
“Four of those injured are in unstable conditions,” the ministry said in a statement, adding it had sent 37 ambulances to the scene.
The fire started from an air conditioner on the second floor of the church building because of an electrical fault, the Egyptian Interior Ministry said in a separate statement.
Fire fighters work at a fire site in Giza Province, Egypt, on Aug. 14, 2022. (Ministry of Interior Affairs of Egypt/Handout via Xinhua)
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi extended his condolences to the victims of the church fire in a phone call to Pope Tawadros II, head of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church.
“President Sisi reiterated that all state institutions are providing the necessary support to contain the aftermath of this tragic accident,” said the Egyptian presidency in a statement. ■
