2LT International News

CAIRO, Egypt – At least 12 people suffered injuries in an explosion at a chemical factory outside the Cairo Airport late on Thursday night, which caused a scare amongst authorities and residents of the capital.

The explosion on Thursday evening saw a massive fireball lighting up the capital’s skies and emerging from above the area that houses the Cairo airport. 

Residents reported hearing a loud bang and photos of the fire and smoke rising into the sky were posted by some residents online. 

Subsequently, the country’s Aviation Minister, Younis al-Masri, reassured that the explosion took place outside the perimeter of Egypt’s Cairo airport and had not disrupted air travel.

Later, reports noted that the Egyptian civil defence team brought the fire under control.

It was briefly revealed that two fuel storage tanks had exploded near the Cairo airport.

However, on Friday, more details of the incident emerged, and authorities the Egyptian military said in a statement that a warehouse belonging to the Heliopolis for Chemical Industries company, which it owns, blew up due to “an increase in air temperatures.”

The state newspaper Al-Ahram reported on its website that the nighttime explosion took place at the Egyptian petrochemical facility, which is located roughly three kilometers from the Cairo Airport.

Adding that the explosion, which was heard across Cairo, shook windows and set off car alarms, leaving 12 people hospitalized with injuries.

Officials reiterated that the explosion did not affect air traffic in the second busiest airport in Africa after Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport.

However, the country’s military did not reveal what chemicals were stored at the facility, even though its production arm manufactures everything from ordnance to refrigerators.