Region | Egypt
Egypt launches probe into deadly fire
Egypt was poised to start an investigation on Wednesday after an all-night effort to put out a blaze that tore through the parliament building in the heart of Cairo and left one fireman dead.
- Agencies
- Published: 23:43 August 20, 2008
- Image Credit: Gulf News Archive
- Authorities are assessing the damage to the 19th century building after emergency services took more than nine hours to put out the fire.
Cairo: Egypt was poised to start an investigation on Wednesday after an all-night effort to put out a blaze that tore through the parliament building in the heart of Cairo and left one fireman dead.
Authorities were assessing the damage to the 19th century building after emergency services took more than nine hours to put out the fire which broke out around 1430 GMT on Tuesday, a police official told state television.
"A fireman has died in the accident," Interior Minister Habib Al Adly told reporters outside the gutted building. "Security services are ruling out sabotage or any criminal act," he said.
Thirteen people were also injured during the fire, suffering mainly from smoke inhalation, as well as bruises and bone fractures, officials said.
A security official said that the cause of the fire remained unclear, although some sources have pointed to an electrical short-circuit. The building, which is listed by the Supreme Council of Antiquities as an Islamic monument, "boasts unique Islamic decoration," archaeologist Abdullah Al Attar told Mena.
Response criticised
While the dome of the Majlis Al Shura or Senate itself was spared, the fire spread quickly from the third to the second floor of the building, causing severe damage to a parliamentary archive before being brought under control.
Both houses of parliament were on summer recess, which meant few people would have been in the building at the time of the fire.
"The problem is that the building is built of wood, and this helped the fire to spread. Everyone is working to bring the situation under control," Upper house speaker Safwat Al Sherif told state TV on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a former general in the Civil Defence, which overseas the fire department, criticised the government's response.
"Something wrong happened," Gen. Adel Al Abodi said.
"How come a whole building caught fire in an hour? Where are the fire alarms and where are the sprinklers?" It was the second fire in the parliament's upper house in 10 years, he said. "But in 1998, we managed to control the fire in the room it erupted in," he said.
"We heard air conditioners blowing up, and wooden shutters caught fire and flew in the air," said Sherif Ahmad, a government employee who witnessed the blaze from a nearby Transportation Ministry office. "We brought our extinguishers to be ready in case of the fire reached our building."
Daily alleges obstruction
An independent Egyptian newspaper said yesterday a state-owned printing press had refused to print its latest edition because of headlines about a fire that destroyed part of Egypt's parliament.
A statement from the daily newspaper Al Badeel said the Al Ahram press "objected to the headlines of the second edition of the paper which dealt with the fire".
Many independent and opposition newspapers depend on Al Ahram's printing presses.
An Al Badeel reporter told Reuters the printing press said the paper had missed the printing deadline. Al Badeel's statement said the paper was submitted in time.
Al Ahram press could not immediately be reached for comment.
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