A fire has ripped through a packed Coptic Orthodox church during morning services in Egypt’s capital, killing 41 worshippers, including at least 10 children.
As many as 16 people were injured, including four policemen involved in the rescue effort.
It is one of the worst fire tragedies in Egypt in recent years.
The cause of the blaze, which produced huge amounts of smoke in the Abu Sefein church in the working-class neighbourhood of Imbaba, was not immediately known.
An initial investigation pointed to an electrical short-circuit, according to a police statement.
The Coptic Church cited health officials in reporting the casualty toll. It said the fire broke out while a service was underway.
Fifteen firefighting vehicles were dispatched to the scene to put out the flames while ambulances ferried casualties to nearby hospitals.
The fire blocked an entrance to the church, causing a stampede, two security sources told Reuters.
"People were gathering on the third and fourth floor, and we saw smoke coming from the second floor. People rushed to go down the stairs and stared falling on top of each other," said Yasir Munir, a worshipper at the church.
"Then we heard a bang and sparks and fire coming out of the window," he said, saying he and his daughter were on the ground floor and able to escape.
Witness Emad Hanna said the church includes two places used as a daycare for children, and that a church worker managed to get many children out.
"We went upstairs and found people dead. And we started to see from outside that the smoke was getting bigger, and people want to jump from the upper floor. … we found the children," she said.
A hospital document obtained by The Associated Press said the Imbaba public hospital received 20 bodies, including 10 children.
Three were siblings, twins aged 5 and a 3-year-old, it said. The church bishop, Abdul Masih Bakhit, was also among those at the hospital morgue.
Twenty-one bodies were taken to other hospitals. It was not immediately known if children were among them.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi spoke by phone with the Coptic Christian Pope Tawadros II to offer his condolences, the president's office said.
"I am closely following the developments of the tragic accident," Mr el-Sissi wrote on Facebook.
"I directed all concerned state agencies and institutions to take all necessary measures, and immediately to deal with this accident and its effects."
The Interior Ministry said it received a report on the fire at 9:00am local time, and found that the blaze broke out in an air conditioner in the building's second stoery.
The ministry, which oversees police and firefighters, blamed an electrical short-circuit for the fire, which produced huge amounts of smoke.
The country's chief prosecutor, Hamada el-Sawy, ordered an investigation and a team of prosecutors was dispatched to the church.
Egypt's Christians account for about 10 per cent of the nation's 103 million people and have long complained of discrimination by the nation's Muslim majority.
Sunday's blaze was one of the worst tragedies in recent years in a country where safety standards and fire regulations are poorly enforced.
In March 2021, a fire at a garment factory near Cairo killed at least 20 people and injured 24 more.
AP/Reuters
