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Power station fault cuts electricity, water and internet in Cairo

Reg reader reports staffers sweaty, web-less for 4 hours

A massive power outage in Cairo has left the city sweltering in nearly 40˚C heat, without running water or internet services.

A Reg reader, who is the chief tech officer at a global conference call provider, told us that the firm’s workers in the city have been without power for around four hours.

“Our first concern is for our staff and their families,” he said. “The majority of our staff are working from home and temperatures in the city are reaching the 40˚ range. But our main concern is that they don’t have running water.”

He said that the company had picked Egypt for its outsourced workers because of its highly skilled workforce, but the power outages in Cairo were becoming an issue.

“We have a number of back office functions in Egypt… [and] we’ll need to try to get workers into building with UPS because it’s been nearly four hours. When we chose Cairo, we were aware of their power problems, but it’s never been this bad. Occasionally, it’s been down for 30 minutes or an hour.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Energy in Egypt confirmed to The Reg that the power was out in parts of the city.

“We have a big problem,” he said. “More than one power plant is out of service. We are working on it.”

He was unable to confirm what had caused the outage, but national news service Ahram Online quoted another Ministry spokesperson as saying that the problem was caused by maintenance works that were attempting to shift power loads in the city.

According to a statement from Egypt’s electricity holding company, there was a technical malfunction at a 500 kilowatt electricity transformer substation at 6.15 this morning, which led to blackouts in various parts of the city.

Ahram Online reported that the outage had also halted trains on Cairo and Giza metro lines and had affected water supply in the city. ®

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