Eleven killed in Algerian orphanage fire amid national heat crisis
A blaze at a children’s care facility in the Mohammadia district has claimed 11 lives and left 19 others injured, including five people with disabilities. The incident occurs during a period of extreme summer heat and widespread forest fires across northern Algeria.
Eleven people have died and 19 others were injured following a fire at an orphanage in the Mohammadia district of the Algiers province, authorities confirmed on Thursday. The blaze broke out overnight, with emergency services arriving at the scene around 3 a.m. local time. Among the injured are five people with disabilities, who were assisted to safety by emergency crews, while ten others suffered burns of varying severity.
National television broadcast footage of Prime Minister Sifi Ghrieb visiting wounded patients at two medical facilities in Algiers. The civil protection agency reported the casualty figures but provided no initial information regarding the victims' ages, identities, or the origin of the fire. Blackened masonry was visible above two window openings behind the exterior gates as locals and emergency crews gathered at the site.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune expressed his condolences via social media while on an official visit to Berlin. Tebboune, who was in Germany for talks with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Friedrich Merz, stated he had received news of the deaths of children and injuries to others following the fire at the children's care facility.
The tragedy unfolds against a backdrop of extreme summer heat in Algeria. Between July 8 and 15, the civil defense agency reported 932 fires across the region, most of which had been extinguished by mid-July, though a small number remained active. To combat the widespread forest fires in northern Algeria, the agency mobilised more than 19,000 personnel, 700 trucks, six helicopters, and 12 water-bombing aircraft.
Northern Algeria experiences forest fires annually, a phenomenon exacerbated by drought and climate change. While the orphanage fire coincides with this period of extreme heat, authorities have not established a direct link between the two events. Several suspects have been arrested on suspicion of deliberately starting some of the forest fires, but the cause of the orphanage blaze remains unconfirmed.
