A fire broke out at one of Egypt’s main telecommunications hubs Thursday evening, according to state news media, days after a blaze there killed four people and disrupted internet, transport and banking services.
The fire Thursday in central Cairo at a building known as the Ramses Exchange was much smaller than the one Monday and was quickly extinguished, the media company Al-Ahram reported, citing local authorities.
There was no official information about the cause of either fire. Egyptian prosecutors said they had launched an investigation.
The telecommunications exchange is run by state-owned Telecom Egypt and is one of many handling phone and internet services. Officials said services had largely been restored, but some Egyptians still complained Friday of patchy internet connections, especially in the area near the Ramses Exchange.
The earlier blaze killed at least four people and injured at least two dozen others, according to the local government. Internet connectivity dropped to about 40% of normal levels, according to NetBlocks, a group that tracks internet outages.
The fire also disrupted the stock exchange and banking sectors and delayed flights, according to local news reports, with some Egyptians posting photos on social media of air travelers using handwritten boarding passes. Customers were unable to buy train tickets for nearly two days in parts of the country, according to local media. The stock exchange reopened Wednesday.
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly visited the exchange Wednesday and said the government would produce a recovery plan to ensure that the building returned to full operation as soon as possible, the Egyptian Cabinet said in a statement.
The fire Monday started on a floor that houses equipment run by telecommunications operators, the nation’s Ministry of Communications said in a statement. Despite the presence of fire suppression equipment, the blaze quickly spread to other floors, it said.