Egyptian authorities on Tuesday raced to contain the fallout from a fatal fire at a key Cairo telecommunications hub, suspending the stock market, doubling cash withdrawal limits, and working to reroute disrupted internet and phone services.
The response came after a blaze late on Monday at the Ramses Central building killed four workers and injured at least 22 others, triggering a nationwide disruption of critical services.
Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat said on Tuesday that all telecommunication services would be gradually restored within 24 hours by redirecting traffic through alternative exchanges.
“The Ramses Central will remain out of service for several days,” Talaat said, adding that affected users would be compensated. He stressed that emergency services and other essential systems were operating normally in most areas.
To mitigate the economic impact, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) took proactive measures, temporarily raising the daily cash withdrawal limit for individuals and companies to EGP 500,000 ($10,400) from EGP 250,000 to facilitate transactions amid the disruption.
The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) suspended all trading for the day, calling it a necessary step to “uphold market integrity and investor confidence” after technical and operational challenges made it impossible to ensure fair and orderly trading.
Other government bodies also moved to ensure the continuity of essential services.
The Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade confirmed that the distribution of subsidised bread was proceeding without interruption. Minister Sherif Farouk explained that the system’s resilience was due to dispensing machines being equipped with multiple SIM cards, allowing them to switch between mobile networks.
At Cairo International Airport, the Ministry of Civil Aviation announced that operations had returned to normal after initial disruptions. It said alternative solutions were implemented to restore the operating system across all terminals, allowing affected flights to take off.
State-owned operator Telecom Egypt, which runs the Ramses exchange, issued a statement mourning the four employees who died in the blaze, calling them “martyrs of duty.”
“With heavy hearts, Telecom Egypt mourns the heroes who demonstrated the highest levels of dedication and sacrifice, remaining at their posts until the final moments to protect telecom infrastructure and serve the nation,” the statement read.
The victims died from smoke inhalation after being trapped inside the building, authorities said.
As of Tuesday evening, civil defence teams were still conducting cooling operations at the site while an investigation into the cause of the fire got underway.
