Air conditioner spark killed 11 in Algiers foster home fire
What's new: Police traced the blaze to an air conditioner running through a heat wave; 19 people were injured.
An electrical spark from an air conditioning unit caused the fire that killed 11 people at a foster care home in Algiers, Algerian police said a day after the pre-dawn blaze. The fire broke out in Mohammadia, an eastern suburb of the capital, and injured 19 others, according to the civil protection department. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said children were among the dead, though authorities have not released the victims' ages. A 52-year-old caregiver also died, The Straits Times reported. Firefighters began responding around 3:30 a.m. local time and deployed 10 fire engines and 16 ambulances. The disaster has intensified demands for a transparent investigation and wider fire safety checks at care homes, hospitals and schools.