CAIRO: A historic church in the Nile Delta where the Holy Family is said to have stopped during their flight to Egypt, leaving Christ s footprint, has been damaged by fire, a security official said on Tuesday.

The fire on Monday at the Sanctuary of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Sakha, just outside the Delta city of Kafr El-Sheikh, destroyed the altar and a historic icon and caused some structural damage.

The local governor blamed the fire on an electrical fault, the official said, with a security cordon placed around the church amid Christian-Muslim tensions following recent unrest between the two communities.

The Coptic name for Sakha, Pekha-Issous, means Jesus foot because it is home to a rock which purportedly bears Christ s footprint, left during the Biblical flight to Egypt to escape King Herod s massacre of the innocents.

Found in 1984, the stone was put on display in the church, which was itself built on the site of a medieval monastery. The stone was reportedly not damaged in the fire. -AFP