North Cairo power plant goes up in flames; officials vow electricity won’t be affected

A power plant in the north Cairo neighborhood of Shubra al-Kheima was engulfed in flames after an explosion jolted the station on Thursday morning, according to the privately owned newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm (AMAY). No casualties were reported in the incident.

The blaze was ignited when a large stack of diesel-soaked filters overheated due to being stored next to the plant’s vapor unit, which is against safety regulations, an employee told AMAY. He added that the plant’s generator and turbine were not damaged in the fire.

However, General Mamdouh Abdel Qader, the head of Cairo's Civil Protection Forces (CPF), said that the exact cause of the fire could only be determined after forensic experts concluded their investigation at the site.

Qader said in a statement that the fire broke out at 9:30 am Thursday morning. The CPF dispatched 16 fire trucks to the plant, where they extinguished the blaze with the assistance of the Armed Forces.  

The other units in the power plant were not affected by the fire, and the plant’s electricity supply would not be hampered by the incident, a source from the Ministry of Electricity told AMAY.

Egypt had suffered from regular electricity outages for the past year. Officials have blamed the constant power cuts on poor maintenance and acts of sabotage committed by former power plant employees affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.