The blaze at a Telecom Egypt facility, which state TV said was contained yesterday, caused disruptions to communications across the capital.

Egypt’s minister of communications and information technology, Amr Talaat, said in a statement today that services will be gradually restored within 24 hours.

In a statement today, Telecom Egypt said it mourned the employees that lost their lives and offered support for their families.

The fire halted phone calls, and disrupted internet access, with internet monitoring group Netblocks saying network data showed national connectivity at 62% of ordinary levels.

The health ministry 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 yesterday.

Banks had already been closed for the day.

The injuries were mostly because of smoke inhalation, health ministry spokesman Ghaffar said yesterday.

The state news agency Mena said yesterday 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.