At least 11 people, including children, were killed and 19 others injured after a fire tore through an orphanage in the Mohammadia suburb of Algiers early Thursday, Algerian authorities said.
The blaze broke out at about 3:00-3:30 a.m. at the two-storey childcare institution in Mohammadia, on the eastern outskirts of the Algerian capital, prompting an emergency response by firefighters and rescue teams.
Algeria’s Civil Protection agency said the death toll was provisional and that the cause of the fire remains under investigation. The ages of the victims have not been officially released, although President Abdelmadjid Tebboune later confirmed that “several children” were among those killed. Authorities said there were no reported adult fatalities.
Civil Protection communications chief Lt. Col. Nassim Bernaoui said rescue workers evacuated five children with reduced mobility from the building and transported several of the injured to a specialist burns hospital. Residents described scenes of panic as firefighters battled the blaze before dawn.
“At around 3 a.m., we heard the fire engines arriving and the children screaming,” said Abdessalam Merrah, 41, who lives near the orphanage. “We helped as much as we could, but unfortunately we were told that 11 people had already died.” Black soot stains were visible around the building’s windows on Thursday morning, while witnesses said firefighters used a chainsaw to cut through metal bars on one of the windows during rescue efforts.
Rachid Belhadj, head of the forensic medicine department at Mustapha Bacha Hospital, told local television that some of the victims’ bodies had been severely burned. “Some of the bodies were completely burned and required DNA tests to be identified,” he said.
President Tebboune, who was on an official visit to Berlin, expressed his condolences following the tragedy. “It is with a heart resigned to the will of Allah that I learned of the death of children and the injuries suffered by other children of Algeria following the fire that broke out in a childcare institution,” he said.
Algerian state television showed Prime Minister Sifi Ghrieb visiting survivors receiving treatment at two hospitals in Algiers. The tragedy occurred on Algeria’s National Children’s Day and during an intense heatwave that has fueled widespread wildfires across the country.
According to the Civil Protection agency, 932 fires were recorded nationwide between July 8 and July 15, with most since extinguished but several still active. One municipal worker died while battling a wildfire in the northern province of Sétif on Wednesday, according to local authorities. Civil Protection said it has deployed more than 19,000 personnel, over 700 fire trucks, six helicopters and 12 water-bombing aircraft to combat the blazes. Residents have also been evacuated from parts of Bejaia, Guelma, Bouira and Mila provinces.
Northern Algeria experiences forest fires every summer, with authorities attributing the increasing frequency and intensity of the blazes to prolonged drought and climate change. Officials have also alleged that some fires were deliberately started, with several suspects arrested in recent years.