Fire at Algerian orphanage kills 11 children, injures 19
A fire broke out at an orphanage near Algiers on Thursday, killing 11 children and injuring 19 others, Algerian authorities reported.
Algeria's Civil Protection agency stated that the fire started around 3:30 am local time (4:30 am CEST) at a two-storey orphanage in Mohammedia, an eastern suburb of Algiers. The blaze killed 11 children and left 19 others injured.
Yassin Ibrize, a nearby resident, told media: “We heard screams and voices coming from the burning orphanage, and then I saw that the flames had begun to engulf the place and the girls were inside. I ran out without a shirt on.” Ibrize said he rushed to rescue children trapped inside.
Rescue teams safely evacuated five children with reduced mobility, while several of the injured were taken to a specialist burns hospital, said Lt. Col. Nassim Bernaoui, head of communications for the Civil Protection department. Security officials guarded the entrance to the orphanage, whose window frames were left charred by the fire.
Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who is on an official visit to Berlin, expressed his condolences. “It is with a heart resigned to the will of Allah that I learned of the death of children and the injuries suffered by other children of Algeria following the fire that broke out in a childcare institution,” Tebboune said. The fire occurred on Algeria’s National Children’s Day.
