18 killed in Algeria migrant camp fire
A fire sparked by an electrical fault killed 18 African
migrants, including children, and injured 50 others Tuesday at a camp in
Algeria, officials said.
The blaze began before dawn at the camp housing more than
650 migrants in Ouargla, 800 kilometres (500 miles) southeast of Algiers,
Colonel Farouk Achour of the emergency services said, reports AFP.
Two children and three women were among the victims, the
official Algerian news agency APS said.
Several hours later the nationalities of the victims were
still not known.
"The fire broke out at 3:00 am (0200 GMT), killing 18
people and wounding 43," Achour said by telephone.
A source at the emergency services later put the number of
injured at 50.
The president of the Algerian Red Crescent, Saida
Benhabiles, said the fire was sparked by a short circuit.
"A short circuit triggered the explosion of a heater
and the fire," Benhabiles said.
She said that 27 people were still being treated in hospital.
The emergency services rushed to the scene to extinguish the
fire.
Authorities have opened an investigation.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika also dispatched the interior
and health ministers, Noureddine Bedoui and Abdelmalek Boudiaf, to Ouargla to follow
up on the situation, APS reported.
The foreign ministry set up a crisis cell to "monitor
the situation and identify the victims", a statement said.
Since a 2011 uprising tipped Libya into chaos, Algeria,
which has long borders with Mali and Niger, has become a top North African
destination for sub-Saharans seeking a better life.
Benhabiles said that more than 4,000 migrants from Niger
have been returned to their country by Algeria since 2014.
She said that 400 more migrants were due to be sent back to
Niger from Ouargla, but it was not clear if any of them were from the camp hit
by the blaze.
The migrants at the camp were housed in a warehouse set up
by the authorities last year where thousands of people, namely from Mali and
Niger, have sought refuge.
According to Benhabiles, the migrants are free to come and
go from the camp.
"They are constantly on the move. One day there could
be 2,000 (migrants) and the next they are 200," she said.
"We don't lock up people as they do elsewhere."
Oil-rich Algeria has been a magnet for sub-Saharan Africans
who use it as a transit stop as they attempt to reach Europe.
Migrants who first arrive in Algeria often congregate in the
deep southern town of Tamanrasset, near the borders with Mali and Niger, before
moving to cities further north to eke out a living.
Women and children can often be seen begging on the streets.
Newspapers have carried reports of the harsh conditions
faced by migrants in Algeria, including several cases of women being raped.
Algeria passed a law in 2009 stipulating that anyone
convicted of illegal migration can face up to six months in detention while
people-smugglers can be jailed for up to 20 years.
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