An electrical fire broke out shortly before 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) during the Holy Mass as 5,000 people gathered at the Abu Sifin Coptic Church in the Imbaba district, the sources said. The fire blocked the entrance to the church, causing chaos, they said, adding that most of the dead were children. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “People were gathering on the third and fourth floors and we saw smoke coming from the second floor. People ran down the stairs and looked like they were falling on each other,” said Yasir Munir, a worshiper at the church. “Then we heard a bang and sparks and fire coming out of the window,” he said, saying he and his daughter were on the ground floor and were able to escape. Electrical fires of this kind are not uncommon in Egypt. in late 2020, a fire at a hospital treating COVID-19 patients killed at least seven people and injured many others. Giza, Egypt’s second largest city, is located just across the Nile from Cairo. “My sincere condolences to the families of the innocent victims who passed to be with their Lord in one of his houses of worship,” Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi tweeted. Maher Murad said he dropped his sister off at the church after the prayer. “I just escaped from the church just 10 meters, I heard the sound of screaming and saw thick smoke,” he said. “After the fireman put out the fire, I recognized my sister’s body. The bodies are all charred and many of them are children, who were in a kindergarten in the church.” (This story corrects the location position to dot Giza, not Gaza) Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Reporting by Ahmed Mohamed Hassan Writing by Nafisa Eltahir and Michael Georgy Editing by David Goodman and Raissa Kasolowsky Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
