CAIRO — Eighteen kids died within the hearth that killed 41 folks when it swept thru a Coptic Orthodox church in a working-class community of Cairo over the weekend, a spokesman for the church stated Monday.
Father Moussa Ibrahim, the spokesman of the Abu Sefein church within the Embaba district of Cairo, stated all of the kids who died within the hearth on Sunday had been between 5 and 13 years previous.
Father Ibrahim stated the fireplace originated with {an electrical} generator used on the church. He stated he may supply no additional main points whilst the fireplace used to be below investigation.
The hearth broke out as worshipers collected for a Mass in a small room of the church, the place a generator used to be in use after an influence lower. When the facility got here again on, witnesses stated, the generator exploded, adopted through an air-conditioning unit, surroundings off a blaze that tore during the four-story church and began a stampede of churchgoers.
The majority of the deaths and accidents resulted from smoke inhalation and the stampede, Egypt’s Health Ministry said.
The blaze used to be the most recent blow for Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority, which has lengthy complained that govt restrictions at the development, renovation and service of church buildings had been a part of a bigger development of discrimination that has relegated them to second-class citizenship and left many in their properties of worship in disrepair.
The tragedy additionally raised questions in a rustic whose govt has lengthy been criticized over its lax protection requirements and deficient oversight.
