At least 41 people were killed and 55 others were injured when a massive fire broke out in a church on Sunday in a crowded neighbourhood of Cairo, the capital of Egypt.
The Abu Sefein church in the heavily populated suburb of Imbaba was destroyed by fire, according to the authorities, which cited health officials for the death toll.
Five thousand people had gathered for Mass at the Coptic Abu Sefein church in the Imbaba district when an electrical fire broke out while a service was underway Sunday morning, according to the sources.
Fifteen firefighting vehicles were dispatched to the scene to put out the flames while ambulances ferried the casualties to nearby hospitals.
The president’s office said President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi spoke by phone with the Coptic Christian Pope Tawadros II to offer his condolences.
“I am closely following the developments of the tragic accident,” el-Sissi wrote on Facebook. “I directed all concerned state agencies and institutions to take all necessary measures, and immediately to deal with this accident and its effects.”
Approximately 10% of Egypt’s 90 million citizens are Christians, who have long complained of discrimination by the nation’s Muslim majority.
Who are the Copts?
Since ancient times, the current nations of Egypt and Sudan have been home to the Copts, an ethnoreligious Christian community native to North Africa.
The majority of ethnic Copts are Coptic Orthodox believers. In Egypt, the Middle East, Sudan, and Libya, they are the largest Christian denomination.
The Coptic language, which is a direct descendent of the Demotic Egyptian spoken in late antiquity, has historically been spoken by Copts.
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