A tragedy occurred yesterday evening around 8:12 p.m. in Djasr Kasentina, in the southern suburbs of Algiers. A fire of rare violence, triggered by a butane gas explosion, ravaged an R+1 building.
The toll of this tragedy is heavy: a seven-year-old boy, a four-year-old girl, and a woman succumbed to their injuries, while eleven other people were seriously injured.
The flames spread rapidly through the building, trapping many residents inside. Emergency services were alerted urgently and deployed significant resources to help the victims. Eight intervention trucks, five ambulances, and a command vehicle were mobilized to the scene.
A team specializing in search and rescue in difficult environments has also been deployed to try to find possible survivors and extract people buried under the rubble.
Tragedy strikes Algerian capital: violent fire caused by gas explosion leaves three dead and eleven injured
The injured, who suffered multiple traumas, were rushed to the nearest hospitals to receive the necessary care. Among them, eight suffered burns of varying degrees, two are suffering from severe breathing difficulties and another is in a state of deep shock.
The scale of this disaster has caused great emotion and mobilized local and national authorities. The Secretary General of the Ministry of the Interior, the Director General of Civil Protection, Colonel Boualem Boughlef, the Wali of Algiers, Mohamed Abdennour Rabhi, and the Chief of Staff of the Ministry of the Interior went to the scene to monitor the development of the situation, coordinate rescue operations and provide support to the bereaved families. An investigation has been opened to determine the exact causes of this fire.
The tragedy in Djasr Kasentina is a terrible reminder of the dangers of butane gas cylinders. Although they are used daily in many homes, these cylinders pose a significant risk when not handled with care.
Their contents, a highly flammable gas, can cause fires and explosions in the event of a leak, shock, or exposure to a heat source. The authorities remind us of the importance of storing these cylinders in cool, dry, and well-ventilated places, away from any flame or source of sparks.