At least 41 people were killed and 45 injured in a fire sparked by an electrical fault during Mass at a Coptic Christian church in the Egyptian megacity of Giza on Sunday.
The blaze erupted just before 9 am when, 5000 people had gathered for Mass at the Abu Sifin church in the Imbaba neighbourhood, two security sources said.
The fire blocked an entrance to the church, causing a rush, they said, adding that utmost of those killed were children.
“ People were gathering on the third and fourth bottom, and we saw bank coming from the alternate bottom. People rushed to go down the stairs and started falling on top of each other, ” said Yasir Munir, a worshipper at the church.
“ also we heard a bang and sparks and fire coming out of the window, ” he said, saying he and his son were on the ground bottom and suitable to escape.
Electrical fires of this kind aren’t a rare circumstance in Egypt; in late 2020, a fire at a sanitarium treating Covid- 19 cases killed at least seven people and injured several others.
In a statement, the interior ministry said a forensic examination showed that the fire began on the alternate- bottom air exertion of the church as a result of an electrical malfunction.
Bank inhalation was the main cause of the deaths and injuries, it said. Families of those who failed will admit,000 Egyptian pounds($,223), according to a press statement.
Giza, Egypt’s alternate- largest megacity, lies just across the Nile from Cairo.
“ I offer my sincere condolences to the families of the innocent victims that have passed on to be with their Lord in one of his houses of deification, ” said Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al- Sisi in a tweet.
Maher Murad said he left his family at the church after prayers.
“ As soon as I got down from the church by only 10 metres, I heard the sound of screaming and saw thick bank, ” he said.
“ After the firefighters doused the fire, I recognised my family’s body. The bodies were all charred, and numerous of them are children who were in a nursery room in the church. ”
