An ambulance leaves the location of a blast which occurred in a storage facility belonging to a local petrochemicals company outside the airport in the northern part of Cairo, Egypt July 13, 2018. REUTERS
Civil Protection forces put out a fire caused by a blast in a storage depot at a military-owned petrochemical plant in east Cairo on Thursday night, said Egypt's army spokesman.
"Because of high temperature, one of the petrochemical depots exploded," the spokesman said in a statement on Facebook.
"Civil Protection Firefighters were able to contain the fire before extiguishing it." the statement added.
Police sources told Ahram Online at least eight people were injured in the blast in Joseph Tito Street, Cairo's Heliopolis district.
No deaths have been reported.
Images shared on social media show large plumes of smoke rising up in the air around the site of the explosion, which is near the Cairo International airport.
However, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement the blast would not disrupt air traffic.
Residents in different parts of East Cairo took to social media, saying the explosion rocked the districts of Fifth Settlement, Heliopolis and the 10th of Ramadan City -- all situated near the airport.
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