Algeria orphanage fire: Air conditioner sparked deadly blaze - police - BBC News

Eleven people, including children, died in the fire that also injured 19 others.

Image source, NurPhoto via Getty ImagesImage caption, People gathered outside the orphanage after the fire, news of which has caused shock and outrage

A fire that killed 11 people at an orphanage in Algeria's capital was caused by an electrical spark from a faulty air-conditioning unit, police in the North African country have said.

Amid the summer heat, the air conditioner had been running continuously before the blaze broke out in the early hours of Thursday morning, according to forensic investigators.

The civil protection department has not specified the ages of those killed or the 19 injured, but in a social media post Algeria's President Abdelmajid Tebboune said children were among the dead.

The fire service battled the flames at the children's care home in Mohammadia, an eastern suburb of Algiers, for at least three hours.