Written by Badr Ahmed:

Eleven people, including children, were killed and 19 others were injured in a fire that broke out in an orphanage in the Al-Muhammadiyah neighborhood of Algiers province, near the capital, in the early hours of Thursday morning, in one of the most tragic humanitarian incidents the country has witnessed in recent days.

Massive fire in Algeria

According to the Algerian Civil Protection, fire and rescue teams rushed to the site of the fire as soon as they received the report, and were able to control the fire and evacuate a number of residents from inside the house. The incident resulted in the death of 11 people and the injury of 19 others, including ten who suffered burns of varying severity, and were transferred to hospitals to receive treatment.

The Civil Protection added that rescue teams also succeeded in evacuating 5 people with disabilities who were inside the orphanage to a safe place, stressing that security operations and technical inspection of the fire site are continuing.

The Algerian authorities have not yet revealed the identity or ages of the victims, nor have they announced the reasons that led to the outbreak of the fire, pending the results of the investigations launched by the competent authorities to determine the circumstances of the incident.

Scenes from the fire site showed extensive damage, with parts of the building charred, while emergency teams and civil protection personnel were heavily present around the house, amid grief and shock among the area's residents.

For his part, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune expressed his sincere condolences to the families of the victims, confirming in a post on his social media account that he had received news of the death of children and the injury of others as a result of a fire that broke out in a children’s home, expressing his solidarity with the bereaved families, and wishing a speedy recovery to the injured.

Elias Jabrini, a resident of the Mohammedia neighborhood, told Reuters that residents rushed to the scene of the fire as soon as they heard cries for help, adding that the scene was extremely shocking. He said: "It's very painful; seeing such an incident with your own eyes is not easy." .

The incident comes at a time when Algeria is experiencing a severe heat wave, which has caused an increase in the rate of fires breaking out across the country.

The General Directorate of Civil Protection announced, according to the official Algerian news agency, that its units dealt with 913 fires since July 8, in harsh climatic conditions that increased the risk of fires breaking out.