Four feared dead and several injured in Cairo Telecom company blaze

Egyptian officials reported on Tuesday that a fire engulfing a major telecom company building in downtown Cairo the previous day resulted in four fatalities and over two dozen injuries.

The significant blaze, which erupted at the iconic 10-story Telecom Egypt building and persisted for several hours, originated in one of the halls on the floor designated for telecom operators and spread to other levels due to its severity, according to authorities.

The four deceased were employees of the company who were present in the burning structure, as stated by their workers' union.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the health ministry provided an update indicating that 27 individuals had been hospitalized, although some have since been released.

The ministry confirmed that four bodies were retrieved from the scene.

Some individuals who experienced smoke inhalation received on-site treatment and did not need emergency transfers to hospitals.

These individuals were not included in the statistics released by the health ministry.

On Tuesday morning, the upper section of the building was scorched, and firefighters continued to spray water as smoke poured from the upper floors, although the large flames had been brought under control, according to an AP photographer present at the scene.

The fire caused a temporary disruption of internet and mobile phone services. NetBlocks, a global internet monitoring organization, noted on Monday via X that network data indicated national connectivity was at 62% of normal levels.

The outage also affected air traffic; however, the civil aviation ministry announced early Tuesday that all grounded flights had resumed.

The Egyptian Stock Exchange suspended trading on Tuesday due to widespread disruptions affecting the trading system's efficiency.

Communications Minister Amr Talaat stated in a release that all communication services would be gradually restored within 24 hours and that they had been rerouted to multiple switchboards to function as an alternative network.