Cairo hospital fire kills three: Health ministry

A fire that broke out Wednesday in a hospital in north Cairo killed three people and injured 32 others, the Egyptian health ministry said.

“The fire started at the radiology ward in a charity-run hospital in the district of Matariya,” ministry spokesman Hossam Abdelghaffar was quoted as saying by official media.

He did not elaborate on the cause of the fire, which was later brought under control.

The megalopolis of Cairo is home to some 20 million people, many of them living in informal residential areas with dilapidated infrastructure.

Deadly blazes, often caused by short circuits, are relatively common in the city and elsewhere in Egypt, a country of 104 million inhabitants.

A fire that tore through a Coptic Christian church in the greater Cairo neighborhood of Imbaba last year killed 41 people, in one of the deadliest incidents in years.

The August 14 blaze erupted when an air conditioner caught fire, engulfing the church in smoke. Dozens of worshippers suffocated on a staircase before rescue services arrived.