41 killed in fire at Egypt's Cairo Coptic church

In Egypt, a fire that broke out Sunday in a Coptic Christian church in Giza killed 41 people, church officials said. The blaze started for unknown reasons at the Abu Sifine church in the capital's northwestern, working-class district of Imbaba, officials said.  An electrical fire broke out just before 9 a.m. local time during Mass as 5,000 people gathered at the Coptic Abu Sifin church in the Imbaba neighborhood. 

The fire blocked an entrance to the church, causing a stampede, they



said, adding that most of those killed were children. Giza, Egypt's second-largest city, lies just across the Nile from Cairo. Fire services later said the blaze had been brought under control.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in a tweet offered his sincere condolences to the families of the innocent.

Copts are the largest Christian community in the Middle East, making up at least 10 million of Egypt's 103 million people.