Eleven people die in fire at Algerian foster care home

Here is the latest breaking news from around the world: Eleven people die in fire at Algerian foster care home Image source, Algeria's General Directorate for Civil ProtectionImage caption, Emergency services were fighting the blaze early on Thursday morningByWedaeli ChibelushiPublished16 July 2026, 09:10 BSTUpdated 10 minutes agoEleven people have died in a fire at a foster care facility in Algiers, Algeria's capital city. The country's civil protection department said 19 others were injured in the blaze, which firefighters were still attempting to extinguish at 06:50 local time (05:50 GMT) on Thursday. Authorities did not specify the ages of those killed or injured.

Amid the fire, five people with special needs were "taken into care and transported to a safe location", the civil protection department's statement said. Algeria has been experiencing a heatwave for several days, and nearly 1,000 fires have been recorded in the space of a week, the news agency has reported. Algerian state media said Prime Minister Sifi Ghrieb had been to two hospitals in Algiers to visit individuals injured in Thursday's fire.

The report was accompanied by a picture of Ghrieb next to a child in a hospital bed. More stories from Algeria:Ditching French for English in Algeria Published18 August 2022'Welcome to 2976' - North Africa's Amazigh people ring in the new year Published14 JanuaryFrench row with Algeria escalates further with tit-for-tat expulsions Published16 April 2025Go to BBCAfrica. com, external for more news from the African continent.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.