Fire at Cairo Coptic Church Kills 41, Including 15 Children

Fire at Cairo Coptic Church Kills 41, Including 15 Children
Emergency personnel work at the site of a fire at the Abu Sefein church in the neighborhood of Imbaba, Cairo, Egypt, on Aug. 14, 2022. Mohamed Salah/AP Photo
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CAIRO—A fire ripped through a packed Coptic Orthodox church during morning services in Egypt’s capital on Sunday, quickly filling it with thick black smoke and killing 41 worshippers, including at least 15 children.

Several trapped congregants jumped from upper floors of the Martyr Abu Sefein church to try to escape the intense flames, witnesses said. “Suffocation, suffocation, all of them dead,” said a distraught witness, who only gave a partial name, Abu Bishoy.