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Egyptians mourn 41 killed in Cairo Coptic church fire | News


Funerals were held at two churches in Cairo for 41 victims of a flames tore through a Coptic Christian church during Mass, forcing worshipers to jump out of windows.

Sunday’s fire, caused by an electrical fault, hit the Abu Sifin church in densely populated Imbaba, a working-class district west of the Nile, part of Giza province in Greater Cairo.

Hundreds of people gathered to pay their respects in and around two Giza churches on Sunday night, where clergy prayed for the victims.

Disabled people jostled through crowds of weeping people to reach the coffins, including the church’s priest, Father Abdel-Messih Bekhit.

Egypt’s Coptic Church and the Ministry of Health reported 41 deaths and 14 injuries in the fire before emergency services brought it under control.

Witnesses to Sunday morning’s fire described people rushing into the multi-storey house of worship to save those trapped, but rescuers were soon overwhelmed by the deadly heat and smoke.

The Copts are the largest Christian community in the Middle East, accounting for at least 10 million of Egypt’s 103 million Muslim-majority population.

Egyptian
Flames hit the Abu Sifin church in densely populated Imbaba, a working-class district in Giza [Khaled Desouki/AFP]

Power up

“People were carrying the children out of the building,” Ahmed Reda Baioumy, who lives next to the church, told AFP news agency. “But the fire is getting bigger and bigger and you can only enter once or you’ll suffocate.”

Another witness, Sayed Tawfik, told AFP that “some people threw themselves out of windows to escape the fire”. He pointed to a car with a dent “left behind by a person currently in hospital with a broken arm and back”.

One resident in the area, Mina Masry, said emergency services were slow to respond. The ambulance took “over an hour to arrive” and the fire truck “almost an hour, even though their station is five minutes away”.

Masry told AFP: “If the ambulance arrived on time, they could have rescued people.

Egyptian
Random fires are not uncommon in the vast expanses of Cairo, where millions live in informal settlements. [Khaled Desouki/AFP]

A statement from the prosecutor’s office indicated that asphyxiation caused the death, as “no injuries were visible”.

The Home Office said “forensic evidence showed that the fire broke out in an air-conditioning unit on the second floor of the church building”, which also houses social services.

Father Farid Fahmy, of another nearby church, told AFP a short circuit caused the fire.

“The power went out and they were using generators,” he said. “When the power came back on, it caused an overload.”

On Sunday morning, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said on his Facebook page that he had “mobilized all state services” in response. He later said he had “sent his condolences over the phone” to Pope Tawadros II, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

He also directed the Armed Forces Technical Service to “take over the reconstruction and renovation” of the church, the president said in a statement.

INTERACTIVE_EGYT_CHURCH_FIRE_AUG14_2022
(Al Jazeera)

Minority Religions

Christian communities often complain that rebuilding churches after devastating fires is marked by lengthy delays and bureaucratic obstacles.

The governor of Giza ordered “emergency aid of £50,000 .” [about $2,600] to the families of the deceased and £10,000 [$500] for the wounded”.

The leader of Al-Azhar, Egypt’s leading Muslim organization, expressed his condolences over the “tragic accident” and confirmed the “readiness of Al-Azhar hospitals to take over” injured people”.

A statement from the office of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres offered his “deepest condolences” to the families of the victims.

Random fires are not uncommon in the vast expanses of Cairo, where millions live in informal settlements amid dilapidated and poorly maintained infrastructure.

Baioumy said the firefighting was hampered by the church’s location “on a very narrow street”.

Ethnic Coptic minorities have endured attacks and complaints of discrimination in the North African nation, the world’s most populous Arab country.

Police have been targeted in deadly attacks, especially after el-Sisi toppled the government of President Mohamed Morsi in 2013, with churches, schools and homes burned down.

The police also complain that they have been excluded from important positions of the state and that they are fed up with laws restricting the construction and renovation of churches.

El-Sisi, the first Egyptian president to attend the annual Coptic Christmas Mass, in February appointed the first Coptic judge to head the Supreme Constitutional Court, the country’s highest body.

An Egyptian woman mourns
Coptic minorities have endured attacks and complaints of discrimination in the North African nation, the world’s most populous Arab country. [Khaled Desouki/AFP]



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