Cairo Telecom Building Fire Kills 4, Injures 22, Disrupts Nationwide Services

A fire broke out on Monday at the Ramses Telecom Center, a major telecommunications hub in downtown Cairo, resulting in four deaths and injuring around 26 to 30 people, mostly from smoke inhalation. The blaze disrupted mobile phone networks, internet services, and banking operations across Egypt, causing national internet connectivity to drop to as low as 44 percent. The fire was reportedly caused by an electrical short circuit on the seventh floor of the 10-story Telecom Egypt building, and while it was contained before spreading further, the damage forced the facility out of service for several days. Egyptian authorities, including the Ministry of Communications and Civil Aviation, responded by rerouting telecom services to alternative exchanges and activating emergency plans to minimize disruption, including managing limited flight delays and resuming airport operations swiftly. The Egyptian Stock Exchange suspended trading due to communication issues arising from the outage. Telecom Egypt expressed condolences to the victims' families and promised compensation and support, while service restoration efforts continue with expectations of returning to normal within days.