On Thursday, a devastating blaze ripped through a two-story orphanage in Mohammedia, an eastern suburb of the Algerian capital Algiers, leaving 11 children dead and 19 others injured, local authorities confirmed.
According to Algeria’s official Civil Protection agency, the fire ignited at approximately 3:30 a.m. local time while children and staff were resting at the childcare facility. As of the latest update, officials have not released the ages of the deceased victims, and have reported no fatalities or harm to adult workers at the site. The root cause of the blaze remains under official investigation, with no preliminary findings released to the public.
Lt. Col. Nassim Bernaoui, communications director for the Civil Protection department, outlined the details of the emergency response: five children with reduced mobility were successfully pulled from the burning structure by rescue teams, while multiple injured children were rushed to a specialized burn treatment hospital for urgent care.
The tragedy occurred on a day of national celebration: Algeria’s National Children’s Day. In a statement released from Berlin, where he is currently conducting an official state visit, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune extended his deepest condolences to the families and communities affected by the disaster. “It is with a heart resigned to the will of Allah that I learned of the death of children and the injuries suffered by other children of Algeria following the fire that broke out in a childcare institution,” the president said.
The fatal orphanage fire comes as Algeria grapples with a widespread heatwave that has fueled nearly 1,000 blazes across the country in recent days, Civil Protection data shows. The extreme heat has created high fire risk conditions across the North African nation, straining emergency response resources as teams work to contain multiple simultaneous blazes.