Cairo furniture factory fire kills 25
No fewer 25 people died in a fire that gutted an Egyptian
furniture factory north of Cairo on Tuesday, a health ministry official said.
Twenty-two more workers suffered from burns and smoke
inhalation in the blaze in the Al-Helw factory on the outskirts of the capital,
health ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said, reports AFP.
Security officials said the fire raged through the
three-storey factory and its warehouse after a gas cylinder exploded.
The interior ministry said 23 fire trucks were at the scene
to extinguish the blaze.
Video footage posted on social networks showed thick smoke
billowing from the factory as rescuers crowded to help the victims.
Another fire at a supermarket in a town near the
Mediterranean city of Alexandria on Tuesday injured 12 people, security
officials said.
Such accidents are relatively common in Egypt, given the
dilapidated state of many buildings and failure to adhere to industrial safety
norms.
In September 2014, six people died and 22 were injured when
a textile dyeing factory collapsed in Cairo in an accident blamed on poor
construction.
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