Fire at Algeria orphanage kills 11, injures 19 near capital

Eleven people were killed and 19 injured in a fire at an orphanage on the outskirts of the Algerian capital early on Thursday, state media reported.

The fire broke out at an orphanage in the Mohammadia district in the eastern suburbs of Algiers.

Ten of the injured suffered burns of varying severity, while emergency crews evacuated five people with disabilities from the orphanage to safety, the civil protection agency said.

It said firefighting operations were continuing and did not immediately identify the victims, disclose their ages or say what caused the fire.

Algeria has been gripped by a heatwave in recent days, with civil protection units extinguishing 913 fires nationwide since July 8, state news agency APS reported on Wednesday, citing the General Directorate of Civil Protection.

-Reporting by Nayera Abdallah and Eman Abouhassira; Editing by Mark Potter, William Maclean/Reuters