A fire triggered by a short circuit during a mass in a church in a working-class district of Cairo killed 41 people on Sunday, mourning the largest Christian community in the Middle East, which represents 10 to 15 of the 103 million Egyptians.
“The air conditioner in a classroom on the second floor of the building where the church is located broke down and released a large amount of smoke, which was the main cause of injuries and deaths,” says the ministry of Interior.
Abu Sifin Church — named after the holy Mercury of Caesarea, revered by the Copts — is wedged into a narrow Imbaba alley.
One of the fire engines intervened to put out the fire cluttered almost the entire width of the street in this densely populated district on the left bank of the Nile.
Ambulances arrived after more than an hour […] fire trucks too, while the barracks is less than five minutes away
The church is on the ground floor of a building, separated by just a few meters by a vis-à-vis, surmounted by a cross and also housing a center for social services, according to a photographer from the AFP.
“Find the Children”
Reda Ahmed, who lives near the church, says that “the neighbors have organized themselves to pick up the children”. But, he told AFP, “those who came back could no longer go back because the fire was too big”. The fire has been brought under control, authorities said.
“The ambulances arrived after more than an hour […] the fire trucks too, while the barracks are less than five minutes away, ”denounces Mina Masry, another resident.
Witness to the tragedy, Sayed Toufik describes difficult scenes: “some threw themselves out of the windows to escape the fire, if you look at this car, you can see the traces of the impact left by a person who is now hospitalized, arm and back broken”.
A little further on, near a car on which broken glass, debris and ashes are piling up, Father Farid Fahmy, officiating in the neighboring church of Mar Yemina, affirms that “the fire started from a generator which got under way after a power outage and suffered an overload”.
The prosecution has announced an investigation. President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi said he had “mobilized all state services so that all measures are taken”.
He later indicated “having already given directives to the military engineers for the reconstruction of the burnt church”, according to a press release from the presidency. Local authorities have announced aid of approximately $3,275 for each of the families of the deceased and $650 for the injured.
The Conference of Catholic Churches in the Holy Land and the Grand Imam of Sunni Islam’s highest institution, al-Azhar, based in Cairo, offered their condolences to Coptic Pope Tawadros II.
They were preceded by Mr Sisi, who called Tawadros II, an outspoken supporter of the head of state, the first president of Egypt to attend the Coptic Christmas Mass every year as his predecessors sent representatives there.
Egyptian international footballer Mohamed Salah expressed his condolences on Twitter, wishing “a speedy recovery to all injured”.
In the sprawling megalopolis of Cairo, where millions live in informal settlements, accidental fires are not uncommon. Endowed with dilapidated and poorly maintained infrastructure, Egypt regularly experiences deadly fires in its various provinces.