At least 38 individuals sustained injuries during a massive fire incident that occurred at a police headquarters in Ismailia, Egypt, on Monday, before being successfully extinguished, as reported by the health ministry.
Although there were no immediate casualties, the police headquarters was fully staffed with officers at the time the fire ignited in the early hours of the morning
When the first responders arrived, the fire had already spread throughout the entire Ismailia Security Directorate building.
The multi-story building was engulfed in flames, becoming entirely hidden by an immense smoke cloud before authorities managed to control the blaze.
All that was left of the headquarters as daylight broke was a blackened shell, with emergency services taking steps to cool the remains and preempt any potential fire resurgence.
Footage of the fire, shared by users on social media, depicted individuals in dire straits, trapped within the building and issuing urgent pleas for help through the windows.
At present, the cause of the fire is still under investigation, and security forces have secured the area. Reporters saw rescuers making efforts to evacuate individuals trapped inside, with the assistance of a crane.
There is no official information available yet regarding the number of police officers and detainees that occupied the building overnight, as authorities have not made any statements.
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The health ministry reported that, out of the 26 wounded individuals who were brought to a nearby hospital, 24 had experienced “asphyxiation,” while two had suffered burns
A dozen more received immediate medical care at the scene.
Local news outlets stated that the health ministry sent 50 ambulances to the scene, and they were joined by military emergency services, which included two aircraft.
Deadly fires pose a regular threat in Egypt, where the enforcement of fire codes is infrequent, and the response time of emergency services is typically slow.
In August 2022, a fire, ignited by a short circuit, claimed the lives of 41 worshippers in a Cairo church, prompting demands for the betterment of the country’s infrastructure and the swiftness of the fire brigade’s response.
Many of the victims met their demise while trying to exit the building and inhaling smoke, while others chose to leap from windows to escape the flames, with firefighters arriving more than an hour later.
The catastrophe was attributed to the deteriorated state of the building that accommodated the church, as well as the intricate network of narrow alleys in the neighborhood, which hindered the response time of arriving firefighters.
The fire that occurred on Monday took place in a police station that was among the many constructed or renovated across the nation in the past decade.
In March 2021, a fire at a textile factory in the capital led to the tragic deaths of at least 20 people, while in 2020, two separate hospital fires resulted in the loss of 14 lives.