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03-10-2023
CAIRO/ ISMAILIA: As many as 38 people were injured after a horrifying fire broke out and quickly engulfed a police headquarters in the Egyptian city of Ismailia on Monday, according to security sources.
So far, no deaths have been reported, but soldiers are always present at the building, and hospitals are on alert due to smoke rising from the blackened multi-story building of the Ismailia Security Directorate.
According to media, the cause of the blaze, which broke out at the headquarters of the Directorate of Security before dawn, is not yet known.
The flames were contained after multiple fire trucks rushed to the scene, the report said.
Of 26 wounded who were transferred to a local hospital, 24 had suffered from “asphyxiation” and two from burns, the health ministry reported, while 12 more were treated at the scene.
The health ministry deployed 50 ambulances to the scene, which were joined by military emergency services including two planes, according to local media.
Egypt’s Minister of Interior Major General Mahmoud Tawfiq said he was following up on the efforts of the firefighting operations and checking on the status of the individuals and officers who were in the facility at the time of the fire.
An investigation has been launched to find out the cause behind the fire and how it spread so quickly, Al Arabiya reported.
Meanwhile, videos and photos circulating on social media showed the fire raging on several floors of the building.
Deadly fires are a common hazard in Egypt, where fire codes are rarely enforced and emergency services are often slow to arrive.
In August 2022, a fire caused by a short circuit killed 41 worshippers in a Cairo church, prompting calls to improve the country’s infrastructure and the response time of the fire brigade.
In March 2021, at least 20 people died in a fire at a textile factory in the capital, while in 2020, two hospital fires killed 14 people. (Int’l News Desk)
