Fire at Algerian orphanage kills 11, injures 19

• A fire at an orphanage near Algiers killed 11 people, including children, and injured 19 others, with ten suffering burns.
• Emergency teams rescued five disabled residents and a local witness described the scene as overwhelming.
• The incident occurred amid a heatwave with over 900 fires nation-wide since July 8, but the cause of the fire remains unknown.

ALGIERS, Algeria – Eleven people, including children, were killed and 19 injured in a fire at an orphanage close to the Algerian capital Algiers early on July 16, authorities said.

Locals and emergency crews rushed to the building in the Mohammadia district of the province of Algiers, where blackened masonry was visible above two window openings behind the exterior gates.

Ten of the injured suffered burns of varying severity, and emergency crews evacuated five people with disabilities from the orphanage to safety, the civil protection agency said.

It gave no details about the victims or their ages or the possible cause of the fire.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune expressed his condolences in a social media post, saying he had received news “of the deaths of children and the injuries of others following a fire that broke out at a children’s care facility”.

Elias Gabrini, 58, a resident in the Mohammadia neighbourhood near the orphanage who witnessed the fire, told Reuters residents rushed from their homes after hearing about the fire.

“It’s truly overwhelming. Seeing this with your own eyes is not easy,” he said.

Algeria has been gripped by a heatwave in recent days, with civil protection units extinguishing 913 fires nation-wide since July 8, state news agency APS reported on July 15, citing the General Directorate of Civil Protection. REUTERS