According to local media, which cited health experts, a large fire in the Coptic Abu Sifin church in the Egyptian city of Giza has resulted in the deaths of at least 41 individuals. At least 55 people were hurt in the fire, which broke out during the Sunday liturgy attended by almost 5,000 worshipers.
Initial inquiry, according to authorities, indicated that the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit in an air conditioner.
“We witnessed smoke rising from the second story and people congregating on the third and fourth floors. People piled on top of one another as they hurried to down the steps, a worshipper named Yasir Munir told the media.
According to reports, the fire also triggered a rush. Munir, who was on the ground level with his daughter and was able to flee, stated, “Then we heard an explosion and sparks and flames shooting out of the window.”
Images captured while the chapel was on fire show heavy black plumes of smoke rising from the windows. Many of those slain, according to some of the witnesses, were youngsters. Another witness who lost his sister in the fire claimed, “The bodies are all burnt, and many of them are youngsters, who were in a nursery area in the church.”
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the president of Egypt, sent his “sincere sympathies to the families of the innocent martyrs.” “All state services,” he claimed, had been