A faulty air conditioner appears to have sparked the orphanage fire in Algeria’s capital, police said, after the blaze killed 11 people and left 19 others injured. The deadly fire at the children’s care home in Mohammadia, an eastern suburb of Algiers, broke out in the early hours of Thursday and was blamed by forensic investigators on an electrical spark from the unit.
Officials said the air conditioner had been running continuously because of the summer heat before the fire started. Fire crews fought the flames for at least three hours. The civil protection department did not say how old the dead or injured were, but President Abdelmajid Tebboune said in a social media post that children were among those killed. AFP reported, citing a police report, that a carer working at the orphanage was also among the dead.
Prime Minister Sifi Ghrieb visited survivors at two hospitals, where they are being treated for burns, smoke inhalation and shock. The authorities said five children with reduced mobility were rescued safely from the building. Civil defence announced the death toll on Thursday, hours after the fire began, and said, “May God have mercy on them.”
