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1st LD: 19 killed in factory fire in Egypt's Cairo

Xinhua, July 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

At least 19 people were killed and 22 others injured in a fire that caught a furniture factory at Al-Obour district of Egypt's Qalioubiya province north of the Egyptian capital Cairo, the Egyptian Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

"The dead bodies and the injured people were taken to nearby hospitals of Al-Obour, Al-Salam, Shibin al-Qanatir and Ain Shams," official MENA news agency quoted Health Ministry's spokesman Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar as saying.

The casualties mentioned above came in the initial report, while ambulances and firefighting vehicles are heavily present at the scene.

According to local media, nearby Cairo civil protection department sent around 30 firefighting vehicles along with large water tanks that are currently working on extinguishing the blazing Al-Helw Factory for Offie Furniture.

"A large part of the fire has been contained and the firefighters are working on controlling the rest, starting with the cooling process in order to prevent fire from re-igniting due to the extremely hot weather," state-run Al-Ahram news website quoted a security source as saying. Endit