Fire knocks out cellphone service in Cuba

HAVANA, June 26 (Xinhua): A fire broke out on Monday at a technological facility in the telecommunications centre in Villa Clara province and severely affected cellphone service in central and western Cuba.

The state-owned telecommunications company, Etecsa, said that the fire broke out around midday on the fourth floor of the building in the centre of the city of Santa Clara, 270 km east of Havana. The mishap claimed no victims,the company added.

Fire brigades arrived rapidly on the scene and began to extinguish the fire, a complicated task, due to the difficulty in accessing the affected space and electrical wiring.