CAIRO (MEMO) – Egyptian football star Mohamed Salah has donated three million Egyptian pounds ($157,000) to rebuild and restore the church in Giza that burnt down over the weekend in a deadly fire.
During Sunday mass a fire blazed through Abu Sifin Coptic Church killing 41 people including 18 children and wounding 45.
As the flames and smoke blocked the only entrance into and out of the church, many worshippers and kids died during the stampede to get out.
In one photo shared widely online, a mother and her three kids, her sister and their mother became three generations of one family who died in the deadly fire.
The issue of rebuilding the church has become heated because for years Egyptian authorities have ignored calls to rebuild other churches in the country.
Mohamed Salah is known for his charitable donations, including giving 12 million Egyptian pounds ($627,000) to a local hospital in Egypt in March 2018 so they could purchase a bone marrow transplant machine.
In 2021 Salah donated oxygen and an ambulance to his home village in Gharbia to help in the fight against coronavirus.
The Liverpool striker has also donated to the National Cancer Institute in Cairo after it was destroyed by a car bomb, provided grants to help more black people attend Cambridge University and given away five acres of land for a waste treatment plant to provide residents with clean water.
In June this year Salah was ranked the eighth most generous person in the UK after donating six percent of his wealth over three years, the state-run Egypt Independent reported.