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4 July 2025
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Major fire engulfs Cairo telecom hub, injures 14, crippling phone and internet services, Egypt
A fire engulfed the main telecom company building in downtown Cairo on Monday, 7 July 2025, injuring at least 14 people and prompting a temporary outage of internet and mobile phone services across the capital, officials said. The 14 injured were taken to nearby hospitals, the Health Ministry said in a statement. A witness told news broadcaster Cairo 24 that two emergency responders suffered burns on their hands. The fire started on the seventh floor of a landmark 10-storey Telecom Egypt building in the Ramses area of Cairo, the governor’s office said in a statement.
Ambulances and fire trucks were on site as plumes of dark smoke rose in the downtown. Firefighters put up ladders as fire trucks spewed water to contain the blaze, while security officials cordoned off the area.
The fire broke in an equipment room of Telecom Egypt and led to a temporary disruption of telecom services, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said in a statement. Telecom services were expected to be restored within hours, the authority said. Online payment services were also disrupted.
NetBlocks, a global internet monitor said on X that network data show national connectivity was at 62% of ordinary levels amid reports of the fire at the telecoms datacentre in Cairo.
The fire took place a few kilometres from where a deadly blaze at a train station in 2019 killed at least 25 people and injured at least 45 others after a collision caused a huge explosion.
Sources: AP
Ambulances and fire trucks were on site as plumes of dark smoke rose in the downtown. Firefighters put up ladders as fire trucks spewed water to contain the blaze, while security officials cordoned off the area.
The fire broke in an equipment room of Telecom Egypt and led to a temporary disruption of telecom services, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said in a statement. Telecom services were expected to be restored within hours, the authority said. Online payment services were also disrupted.
NetBlocks, a global internet monitor said on X that network data show national connectivity was at 62% of ordinary levels amid reports of the fire at the telecoms datacentre in Cairo.
The fire took place a few kilometres from where a deadly blaze at a train station in 2019 killed at least 25 people and injured at least 45 others after a collision caused a huge explosion.
Sources: AP
