No fewer than 41 people have been confirmed dead and 14 others injured following a fire that broke out at a church in the city of Giza, near Cairo, Egypt’s Coptic Church disclosed on Sunday, citing the health ministry.
The health ministry in Egypt had earlier disclosed that ‘several’ people were killed in the fire at the Abu Sifin Coptic church in the Imbaba neighbourhood yesterday and that ambulances transferred at least 55 injured people to local hospitals.
According to a police statement which was sighted by Africa Daily News, New York on Monday, an initial investigation pointed to an electrical short-circuit.
Two security sources told Reuters news agency an electrical fire broke out as 5,000 worshippers gathered for mass, causing a stampede.
About fifteen fire engines were reported to have been dispatched to the scene to put out the flames while ambulances ferried the casualties to nearby hospitals.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi spoke by phone with the Coptic Christian Pope Tawadros II to offer his condolences, the president’s office said.
‘I have mobilised all state services to ensure that all measures are taken,’ he said on his Facebook page.
Fire services later announced the blaze had been brought under control.
The Interior Ministry in a statement on Monday morning disclosed that it received a report on the fire at 9am local time (07:00 GMT), and that they found that the blaze broke out in an air conditioner in the building’s second storey.
In another report, the death toll from a massive fire that ripped through a Thai nightclub rose to 15 on Saturday, a rescue service has revealed.
Africa Daily News, New York reports that the fire broke out around 1:00 am (1800 GMT Thursday) at the Mountain B nightspot in Chonburi province’s Sattahip district, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) southeast of Bangkok.
The Sawang Rojanathammasathan Rescue Foundation said Saturday that another man had died, taking the death toll to 15.
