8/7/2025–|Last update: 03:18 (Mecca time)
At least 22 people were injured as a result of a fire that broke out yesterday, Monday, in the vital Nisterral Ramses building in central Cairo and caused the interruption of telecommunications and the Internet temporarily.
A spokesman for the Egyptian Ministry of Health told Reuters Hossam Abdel Ghaffar that most of the injuries are caused by inhaling smoke.
“As a result of a sudden and temporary malfunction in the communications and Internet networks, the air traffic witnessed limited delays in the dates of taking off some flights,” the Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement.
“The approved emergency plan was immediately activated to ensure the continuity of operation, as coordination is done to leave all trips without canceling any of them,” she added.
A banking source and residents stated that some digital banking services, including credit cards, ATMs and electronic transactions, were also affected.
Cairo Governor Ibrahim Saber confirmed that the fire caused the power outage in the region.
In turn, the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said in a statement that the fire “led to a temporary breakdown of telecommunications services,” and stated in a later statement that “the fire was controlled and the necessary cooling operations are being carried out.”
The official Middle East News Agency quoted a security source as saying that “the civil protection men succeeded in preventing the extension of the fire to the entire central building, as well as preventing the extension of the fire to the surfaces of the neighboring real estate,” the official Middle East News Agency quoted a security source as saying.
The source pointed out that the initial examination “showed that the fire is likely to be caused by a short circuit” while the criminal laboratory experts raise the effects of the fire to determine its causes.
Videos that spread widely on social media showed smoke from the upper floors of the building, which can be seen from several kilometers away.