Fire at Telecom Egypt Building: 4 Dead, 26 Injured

Cairo, Jul 8 (AP) Egyptian authorities reported Tuesday that a fire that swept through a central telecom company building in downtown Cairo resulted in the deaths of four individuals and left more than two dozen injured.

According to a statement from the company’s workers' union, the deceased were employees of Telecom Egypt who were present in the building at the time.

Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, a spokesperson for the health ministry, informed The Associated Press over a phone call that the number of those injured rose from 14 to 26, including cases of smoke inhalation.

All victims were admitted to the hospital, with some already being discharged as of now.

The fire reportedly originated in one of the halls on the floor allocated to telecom operators and quickly spread to other areas due to its intensity, as stated by the Communications Ministry.

The incident, which occurred at the prominent 10-story Telecom Egypt structure, caused a temporary disruption in internet and mobile services.

NetBlocks, a global internet monitoring organization, mentioned on X that their network data indicated national connectivity had dropped to 62% of typical levels.

The outage also had implications for air travel; however, the civil aviation ministry announced Tuesday morning that all affected flights have since departed.

Due to the widespread operational disruptions, the Egyptian Stock Exchange suspended trading on Tuesday.

Amr Talaat, the minister of communications and information technology, assured in a Tuesday morning statement that communication services would be fully restored within 24 hours.

He noted that services have been rerouted to alternative networks to ensure continuity.

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