CAIRO – A massive fire broke out at Cairo’s main convention centre on Wednesday, injuring 19 people, Egyptian officials said.
The fire, which was extinguished, appeared to have started by accident, security officials said. Thirteen fire trucks and 13 ambulances were dispatched to the scene.
Health Ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said there have been no deaths so far.
Huge clouds of black smoke rose from the blaze in the Nasr City neighbourhood, and could be seen drifting across the skyline in the city centre some 10 kilometres away.
Egyptian authorities have ramped up security at major sites against militants seeking to destabilize the country. The government is also keen to project an image of stability in the run-up to a much-trumpeted economic conference next month in the southern Sinai Peninsula city of Sharm el-Sheikh, hoping to draw in billions of dollars of foreign investment.
The officials who spoke on condition of anonymity did so because they were not authorized to release the information otherwise.
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