41 people die in church fire

BREAKING: 35 Christians killed, 45 injured in a Church fire during Sunday service in Giza city in Egypt.

My thoughts and prayers are with the victims today. 🇪🇬🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/743y4mRfL4

— Hananya Naftali (@HananyaNaftali) August 14, 2022

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The fire reportedly broke out near the end of a church service in Giza, in the greater Cairo area. The interior ministry said a faulty air conditioner on an upper floor of the church caused the fire. According to the private newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm, eyewitnesses said there was a short circuit after a power failure. In Cairo on Sunday, the temperatures around 35 degrees Celsius, which are usual for August, prevailed.

Fire in Coptic church under control after two hours

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called Copt Pope Tawadros II to express his condolences. The country’s authorities would provide all support after the tragic incident.

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According to the Ministry of Health, 30 ambulances were deployed to take care of the victims and take them to nearby hospitals. The ambulances arrived at the scene of the fire minutes after the emergency call and took 55 people to hospitals. After about two hours, civil protection brought the fire under control. A team from the public prosecutor’s office also set out to investigate the scene of the fire and to further clarify the exact cause.

More than 100 million people live in Egypt. Around ten percent of the population is of Christian faith, most of them Copts.

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