11 killed in orphanage fire as Algeria struggles in heatwave

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A fire burning at an orphanage in Algeria’s capital has killed at least 11 people including children, authorities said Thursday, amid a heatwave that has sparked hundreds of blazes in the country’s north.

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Firefighters had been battling to extinguish the flames since before dawn in the Mohammadia suburb of Algiers.

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“At around 3:00 am, we heard the fire engines arriving and the children screaming,” said Abdessalam Merrah, 41, who lives nearby.

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“We helped as much as we could, but unfortunately we were told that 11 people had already died.”

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An AFP journalist saw black stains around the building’s windows on Thursday morning. A witness said firefighters had used a chainsaw to remove metal bars from a window.

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The Algerian civil defence said the toll was provisional and added that another 19 people were injured in the fire, the cause of which is unknown.

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Rachid Belhadj, head of the forensic medicine department at Mustapha Bacha Hospital, told local television that some of the bodies were completely burned and required DNA tests to be identified.

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Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune later said “several children” were among the dead.

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National television showed Prime Minister Sifi Ghrieb visiting the wounded at two medical facilities in Algiers.

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– 932 fires in a week –

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Algeria has been sweltering under a heatwave for several days, and nearly 1,000 fires have been recorded in the space of a week.

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From July 8 to 15, the civil defence reported 932 fires, according to state media. Most had been extinguished but a small number were still burning.

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One municipal worker died battling a blaze in the northern province of Setif, a local mayor said Wednesday.

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The civil defence said it had mobilised more than 19,000 personnel and 700 trucks to battle forest fires, as well as six helicopters and 12 water-bombing aircraft.

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It has also evacuated some residents in the provinces of Bejaia, Guelma, Bouira and Mila, according to the APS state news agency.

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Every summer, northern Algeria is struck by forest fires, a phenomenon exacerbated by drought and climate change.

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The fires have killed dozens of people in recent years and destroyed thousands of hectares of forest or farmland, along with numerous homes.

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Authorities say they believe some fires were started deliberately, with several suspects arrested.

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AFP

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