the blaze, which firefighters began to tackle at 03:30 local time (04:30 GMT) on Thursday. They were still attempting to extinguish the fire just over three hours later, when the authorities released an update on the situation. The civil protection department's statement did not specify the cause of the fire, nor the ages of those killed or injured.

Ten fire engines and sixteen ambulances were deployed to the facility in Mohammadia, an eastern suburb of Algiers. Algeria has been experiencing a heatwave for several days, and nearly 1,000 fires have been recorded in the space of a week, the AFP news agency has reported. On Thursday morning, the civil protection department said it had recorded 115 wildfires over the past 24 hours. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune expressed his condolences following the fire at the children's home, calling the incident a "tragic loss".

Prime Minister Sifi Ghrieb travelled to two hospitals in Algiers to visit individuals injured in Thursday's fire, state media reported. The report was accompanied by a picture of Ghrieb next to a child in a hospital bed. Amid the fire, five people with special needs were "taken into care and transported to a safe location", the authorities said. (BBC)