55 injured in church fire during mass in Giza: Egyptian Ministry of Health

The Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population has announced that 41 are feared dead and 14 injured as the result of a fire that broke out Sunday morning in Abu Sefein church located in the Greater Cairo district of Imbaba during the Divine Liturgy.

Egypt’s Ahram Online website quoted the Egyptian Health Minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar as saying that the ministry ordered medical services to provide rapid first aid and follow up on the aftermath of the blaze, according to Ahram Online website.

After 30 ambulances were dispatched the scene, all victims were transferred to Imbaba General Hospital and Al-Agouza Hospital for treatment, according to Health Ministry Spokesperson Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar.

Abdel-Ghaffar added that all hospitals in Cairo and Giza governorates were put on emergency alert, noting that all the needed blood types and emergency medications were available in the hospitals that received the injured.

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt extended condolences on Sunday to Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria and head of the Coptic Orthodox Church in a phone call with the pope.

El-Sisi affirmed that all state institutions are providing the required support to contain the effects of the tragic incident, said Presidential Spokesman Bassam Rady.