A devastating fire at an orphanage in Algeria’s capital has claimed the lives of at least 11 people, including children.
The tragedy occurred in the early hours of Thursday morning in the Mohammadia suburb of Algiers, unfolding as the country battles a punishing summer heatwave that has ignited hundreds of blazes across its northern provinces.
Emergency crews rushed to the scene before dawn to combat the fierce flames. Neighbors who witnessed the outbreak described a scene of sheer terror.
Abdessalam Merrah, a 41-year-old local resident, recalled the heartbreaking moments: “At around 3 a.m., we heard the fire engines arriving and the children screaming,”
He added: “We helped as much as we could, but unfortunately we were told that 11 people had already died.”
By Thursday morning, thick black smoke stains charred the exterior walls around the building’s windows. According to an eyewitness, the intensity of the fire and the building’s security measures forced firefighters to use a chainsaw to cut through metal security bars on a window to reach those trapped inside.
The Algerian civil defence has warned that the current death toll remains provisional. In addition to the fatalities, at least 19 other people sustained injuries in the blaze.
The exact cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Due to the severity of the fire, identifying some of the victims has proven difficult. Rachid Belhadj, head of the forensic medicine department at Mustapha Bacha Hospital, told local television that some of the bodies were completely burned and would require DNA testing for formal identification.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune later confirmed the tragedy, stating that “several children” were among the dead. Meanwhile, state television broadcast footage of Prime Minister Sifi Ghrieb visiting injured survivors recovering at two medical facilities in Algiers.
The tragic incident comes as Algeria endures a severe week-long heatwave.
The extreme temperatures have turned the region into a tinderbox, with nearly 1,000 fires documented in the span of just seven days.
According to state media, the civil defence recorded 932 separate fires between July 8 and July 15.
While the vast majority of these blazes have been successfully contained, a few continue to burn. The firefighting efforts have already turned deadly; a municipal worker lost his life earlier this week while battling a wildfire in the northern province of Setif.
To manage the unprecedented crisis, the civil defence has launched a massive mobilization effort:
Over 19,000 emergency personnel deployed
700 firefighting trucks on the ground
6 helicopters and 12 water-bombing aircraft actively operating
The high risk has prompted preemptive evacuations of residents in several hard-hit provinces, including Bejaia, Guelma, Bouira, and Mila.
Wildfires are a recurring hazard in northern Algeria during the summer months, but scientists note the phenomenon has been severely exacerbated in recent years by prolonged droughts and climate change.
These annual blazes have claimed dozens of lives, destroyed thousands of hectares of vital forest and agricultural land, and left many families homeless.
While extreme weather acts as a primary catalyst, Algerian authorities also suspect human involvement in some of the outbreaks. Investigations are ongoing, and several individuals have already been arrested under suspicion of deliberate arson.
