Algiers, July 16 (dpa/GNA) – A fire at an orphanage east of the Algerian capital killed at least 11 people and injured more than 20 others with burns, a civil defence official said on Thursday.
Firefighters were continuing to battle the blaze, which broke out in the early morning at the orphanage in the Mohammadia suburb of Algiers, Karim Ben Fahsi, spokesman for the Algerian Civil Protection Service, told dpa.
The cause of the fire was not immediately clear. The Civil Protection Service said earlier that rescue teams had evacuated five people with special needs from the facility and taken them to safety.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, announced that children were also among the victims. In a Facebook post, he described the blaze as a “grave tragedy.”
GNA