At the very least 40 individuals have died and 14 others had been injured after a hearth ripped by way of a Coptic church in a densely populated space of the Egyptian capital on Sunday.
The blaze despatched enormous quantities of thick black smoke into the air as some 5,000 worshipers gathered for Mass on the Coptic Abu Sifin church in Cario.
Youngsters are regarded as among the many useless.
The well being ministry says it believes individuals died in a stampede as they tried to get out of the church, with hearth blocking the doorway.
Fifteen firefighting autos had been dispatched to the scene, and ambulances ferried the casualties to close by hospitals.
Egypt's hearth service says the blaze is now underneath management.
Whereas the origin of the blaze stays unknown, native police say an preliminary investigation suggests it could have been brought on by an electrical short-circuit.
Officers have despatched a group of prosecutors to the church to research additional.
It was one of many worst hearth tragedies in Egypt in recent times.
Worshippers recalled how occasions unfolded as the hearth broke out.
"Individuals had been gathering on the third and fourth ground, and we noticed smoke coming from the second ground. Individuals rushed to go down the steps and began falling on prime of one another," Yasir Munir instructed Reuters.
"Then we heard a bang and sparks and hearth popping out of the window," he mentioned, including that he and his daughter had been on the bottom ground and in a position to escape.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi provided his "honest condolences to the households of the harmless victims which have handed on to be with their Lord in considered one of his homes of worship".
Coptic Christians quantity between 5 and 20 million in Egypt, which has a inhabitants of 103 million individuals.
Copts declare they face discrimination within the majority Muslim nation and are excluded from public life.
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