Cairo: A fire destroyed the main hall of Egypt's National Theater in the heart of the downtown Cairo today, wounding three firefighters, a civil defense officer said.

Billowing white smoke filled the busy Ataba Square just after sunset as 22 engines responded to the alarms. Dozens of riot police also deployed to keep back onlookers.

A major general with the civil defense on the scene described the fire as "almost contained," after high winds briefly drove flames into neighboring shops and buildings. Three firefighters were hospitalised for smoke inhalation.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press.

Brig Gen Nasr Zakaria of the civil defense operations room told the state MENA news agency that the fire began with an electrical short that caused an explosion in the theater's air conditioning system.

The fire started just before the sunset evening meal during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan while workers were performing maintenance on theater s electrical systems.

"There was a big blast, then smoke started rising from the roof," said Mahmoud Osman, the owner of a shop across the square. "Then flames engulfed the whole roof area and damaged parts of the wall."

The theater was original built in 1935,but had been recently renovated.

The building would have been practically deserted due to the evening meal, but was scheduled to perform popular poetry recitations later on that evening.

In August, Egypt's upper house of parliament was devastated by massive fire, also in the downtown area.
Source : PTI