At least 25 people were injured after a horrifying fire broke out and quickly engulfed a police headquarters in the Egyptian city of Ismailia on Monday, according to security sources.
So far, no deaths have been reported, but soldiers are always present at the building, and hospitals are on alert due to smoke rising from the blackened multi-story building.
According to media reports, the cause of the blaze, which broke out at the headquarters of the Directorate of Security before dawn, is not yet known.
The flames were contained after multiple fire trucks rushed to the scene, the report said.
The health ministry deployed 30 ambulances to the scene and two military planes were en route as soon as the emergency services were alerted, according to Egyptian media.
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Egypt’s Minister of Interior Major General Mahmoud Tawfiq said he was following up on the efforts of the firefighting operations and checking on the status of the individuals and officers who were in the facility at the time of the fire.
#BREAKING | Egyptian TV: Civil Protection Forces were able to control the fire at the Ismailia Security Directorate.#Egypt #Cairo #مصر #القاهرة #الإسماعيلية pic.twitter.com/AdJRagrocp
— Breaking news 24/7 (@aliifil1) October 2, 2023
An investigation has been launched to find out the cause behind the fire and how it spread so quickly, Al Arabiya reported.
Meanwhile, videos and photos circulating on social media showed the fire raging on several floors of the building.
Deadly fires are a common hazard in Egypt, where fire codes are rarely enforced and emergency services are often slow to arrive.
In August 2022, a fire caused by a short circuit killed 41 worshippers in a Cairo church, prompting calls to improve the country’s infrastructure and the response time of the fire brigade.
In March 2021, at least 20 people died in a fire at a textile factory in the capital, while in 2020, two hospital fires killed 14 people.
