CAIRO (Reuters) -At least 22 people were injured after a fire broke out on Monday in a key telecoms data centre in Cairo, the spokesperson of Egypt's health ministry told Reuters, as disruptions of communications across the capital were recorded.
A state TV reporter said it had been contained.
People were unable to make phone calls, and a major internet disruption was registered after the fire erupted in the building in central Cairo, with internet monitoring group Netblocks saying network data showed national connectivity at 62% of ordinary levels.
The health ministry also posted alternative numbers for ambulance services across different governorates in case people were unable to reach its main hotline.
Besides phone calls, some digital banking services were also impacted including credit cards, ATM machines and online transactions, a bank source and residents said. Banks had already been closed for the day.
The injuries were mostly because of smoke inhalation, health ministry spokesperson Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said.
"A fire broke out this evening in one of the equipment rooms at the Ramses switchboard of the Telecom Egypt company, which led to a temporary disruption of telecommunications services," the National Telecom Regulatory Authority said in a statement.
It said services would be restored over the next few hours, after power to the whole building was cut off as a safety measure.
A plume of smoke could be seen above the Ramses district.
The state news agency MENA said the fire had been prevented from spreading to the entire building and neighbouring rooftops.
An initial examination indicated that the fire was likely to have been caused by an electrical short circuit, MENA cited a security source as saying.
(Reporting by Jaidaa Taha and Momen Saeed Atallah in Cairo, Jana Choukeir in Dubai; Writing by Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Mark Heinrich, Barbara Lewis, Kevin Liffey, Bill Berkrot and Marguerita Choy)
