ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday extended condolences to Egypt after a church fire in a Coptic Christian church in Greater Cairo killed 41 people and injured 14.
The fire erupted in a packed Abo Sefein Church on Sunday morning during mass in the densely populated Imbaba, a working-class district west of the Nile River, part of the Giza governorate in Greater Cairo.
As the four-story building caught fire, which authorities blame on an electrical fault, a stampede ensued. The majority of the deaths and injuries were the result of smoke inhalation and the stampede, Egypt’s health ministry confirmed in a statement.
Eyewitnesses described several people, trapped by the inferno, jumped off the roof of the church. Sayed Tawfik, an eyewitness, told AFP how “some threw themselves out of windows to escape the fire.” He pointed to a car bearing dents “left by a person who is now lying in the hospital with a broken arm and back.”
“The Government and people of Pakistan extend heartfelt condolences over the loss of precious lives as well as injuries to many as a result of a tragic fire incident in Abo Sefein Church in Giza Governorate of Egypt,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said in a statement.
Pakistan prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured and expressed its deepest sympathies for the families of the deceased.
“Pakistan stands in solidarity with the brotherly people and Government of Egypt in this moment of grief,” MoFA added.
