Cairo: Four children died after a fire had broke out inside their house near Cairo while their mother was away, local media reported. The fatalities were aged eight, six, five years and 19 months.
There were conflicting reports about the cause of the fire in the apartment in the district of Faisal in Giza. Al Masry Al Youm newspaper said that the fire had been sparked by an electric short circuit.
However, Al Watan, another private newspaper reported that police investigations revealed that the blaze broke out after the children had played with matchboxes while their mother was outside.
Heavy smoke made it difficult for neighbours to enter the third-floor apartment and had to switch off electricity until the firefighters showed up and put out the blaze, witnesses said.
On returning to the site, the mother, a divorcee, was shocked by the death of her four children - three girls and a boy, they added.
