CAIRO, March 2: A fire on Sunday in the newly-built Alexandria library left nearly 40 people hurt, two of them critically burnt and the rest suffering from smoke inhalation, Egyptian police in the Mediterranean city said.

The section containing historical books and documents was safe, as well as the antiquities museum, the planetarium, science museum and exhibition hall, the official news agency MENA reported.

The fire caused by a short circuit broke out at around 11:00 am on the library’s fourth floor, which is used by the management, a police official told AFP.

The blaze was put out less than half an hour later thanks to its much vaunted fireproofing systems, backed later by the library’s own firefighters, he said.

Nearly 40 people were rushed to hospital, two of them for critical burns and the others for inhaling smoke, he said.

Journalist Ali Barudi who visited the scene told AFP the wounded were members of staff.

The alarm system worked and, despite the panic, visitors exited the building before the smoke started to spread through the air conditioning system, Barudi said.

Library director Ismail Serageddin ordered an investigation, said MENA.

On the day of its inauguration, October 16, designers said they equipped the library with the best in 21st century fireproofing to prevent it suffering the same fate as its predecessors.

World leaders attended the grand opening of the 225-million-dollar library built largely with foreign financial aid, to reflect the spirit of ancient Bibliotheca Alexandria that itself was destroyed by a blaze 1,600 years ago.

The vast steel, glass and concrete library that has 240,000 volumes on the shelves looks like a solar disc tilting toward the sea.

The legendary place of learning suffered several fires, one during Julius Caesar’s siege of Alexandria in 48 BC, before the first major public reading place in history was finally burnt down.

Austrian-born architect Christoph Kapeller, co-designer of the library with Norwegian firm Snohetta, has said that in addition to sprinklers and other firefighting equipment, fire-proofing materials were integrated into the design.—AFP