# Did you hear it?



## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

Loud explosion heard all over Cairo this morning, State Tv saying now it was a military jet breaking the sound barrier (or something)  

Did you hear it? Where from?


Al Masry Al Youm:

Police authorities in Cairo, Giza, and Qalyubiya governorates received several reports on Wednesday around 11:30 am that citizens heard massive explosions, a security source said.

While a security source in the Cairo district of Helwan said the sounds might be attributed to quarrying work, Cairo Security Chief Mohsen Morad told state-run TV that an airplane breaking the sound barrier had produced the noise.

The security source added that police forces were put on alert and some were deployed to the areas where explosions were heard to determine the cause of the noise.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

aykalam said:


> Loud explosion heard all over Cairo this morning, State Tv saying now it was a military jet breaking the sound barrier (or something)
> 
> Did you hear it? Where from?
> 
> ...


So it was a plane but they still sent the police out to where explosions were heard... They still can't get their stories straight


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## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

MaidenScotland said:


> So it was a plane but they still sent the police out to where explosions were heard... They still can't get their stories straight


It's funny that people in the streets have to provide the info to the people who are supposed to be in charge...it says a lot about the state of play in this country: clueless.

Someone came up with the plane story and the authorities are going along with that. Easier than doing a proper throughout investigation. Is too hot to get out of the office in Cairo


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## tt05 (Feb 21, 2011)

*i got this via email*

*This morning it was reported by our staff that protestors were blocking the Cornich Road going to/from Maadi. It is also reported that the army used live weapons and were shooting at the protestors.

At 11:35 AM: A heavy “tank-like” bomb shook Maadi.

We are in touch with the RSO at USAID. They have a unit investigating the situation. We should get an update in about an hour.

In the meantime, please stay inside your office or at home and avoid going out.*

We were in Digla on the 7th floor of a building and it still shook the windows. I live in Sarayat and our housekeeper heard it as well.

Just got this

*sound of what seemed to be a massive explosion was heard all over Cairo on Wednesday. The loud blast shook windows in the southern neighborhood of Maadi, but was heard as far away as northern Cairo. The source of the loud noise, however, is yet to be determined.

The ministry of interior told MENA it was looking into the cause of the possible explosion in southern Cairo.

"We have received reports from several citizens who say they heard a loud explosion," in different parts of the city, Deputy Interior Minister Murad Mohsen told MENA, in statements broadcast on television.

"Security services have been sent to the various areas to investigate the reports," he said.

According to the German news agency the source of the sound was an explosion in a stone-pit near the Maadi district. 

General Mohsen Mourad told Egypt’s Akhbar news website that the source of the sound was a plane which broke the sound barrier.

The collapse of a bridge in Maadi, the district where the sound is believed to have originated, has added to the confusion.*


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## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

tt05 said:


> *This morning it was reported by our staff that protestors were blocking the Cornich Road going to/from Maadi. It is also reported that the army used live weapons and were shooting at the protestors.
> 
> At 11:35 AM: A heavy “tank-like” bomb shook Maadi.
> 
> ...


According to Al Jazeera, the bridge (that was under construction) in Maadi collapsed last night, so it would not be related. 

I do not believe a quarry explosion in/near Maadi would be heard across Cairo. I heard it (loud, very loud) in Rehab, and I know people in Zamalek and Mohandessin who've heard it too. 

It's more likely the jet version of the story, as a jet flying over would cross Cairo's sky in a matter of seconds lane: specially it breaking the sound barrier. 

Interesting that note you got asking people to stay indoors...


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## tt05 (Feb 21, 2011)

aykalam said:


> .
> 
> Interesting that note you got asking people to stay indoors...


 yea, that one came from a friend who works in a US office.


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## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

This is the bridge that collapsed, reports of 4 workers dead. If I'm not mistaken the caption says the bridge is to/from Maadi Island. Maybe someone else with better Arabic can confirm?

Photo could not be found - Twitpic

Still, this would not have been heard across Cairo, no way


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

aykalam said:


> This is the bridge that collapsed, reports of 4 workers dead. If I'm not mistaken the caption says the bridge is to/from Maadi Island. Maybe someone else with better Arabic can confirm?
> 
> Photo could not be found - Twitpic
> 
> Still, this would not have been heard across Cairo, no way


Maadi island? I am guessing that is the illegal island the army built a few years ago despite there being a law stating that the flow of the Nile can never be tampered with


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## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

MaidenScotland said:


> Maadi island? I am guessing that is the illegal island the army built a few years ago despite there being a law stating that the flow of the Nile can never be tampered with


Maadi Island as far as I know is right opposite the Constitutional Court building. 

More on the boom today by Al Ahram:


Egypt's interior ministry said Wednesday that a sonic boom from an overflying aircraft was the cause of a loud "explosion" that sent Cairo's residents in a panic.

"The sound of the explosion in the (southern neighbourhood) of Maadi and in central Cairo was the sound of a plane that broke the sound barrier," deputy interior minister Murad Mohsen said in a statement.

The sound of the blast shook windows in Maadi and was heard as far away as northern Cairo, residents told AFP.

It sent Cairenes in a panic, amid heightened tensions in Egypt almost five months since a popular uprising forced president Hosni Mubarak to stand down after three decades of autocratic rule.

Insecurity has gripped the country since the former president's fall in February, which saw power handed to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

Last week, bloody clashes erupted between protesters and anti-riot police in Cairo's Tahrir Square amid mounting frustration with the country's military rulers over the pace of reforms.

Earlier Mohsen said authorities had received reports of an explosion and would be investigating.

"We have received reports from several citizens who say they heard a loud explosion," in different parts of the city, Mohsen told MENA, in statements broadcast on television.

"Security services have been sent to the various areas to investigate the reports," he said.


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## gerhardme1954 (Jul 6, 2011)

Saw the army arriving, on the Corniche just before the As Salam hospital, to the area where the bridge had collapsed. I think it came down with quite a bang! Not to sure what the army was doing there. More a job for the department of roads and bridges I think. I think a good civil engineer rather than a General can deal with this problem. Dont know if that was the BIG bang, but it was a bang. If a supersonic plane had gone through the sound barrier the loud bang would have been more obvious, (the jet needs to below about 13500/14000 feet) more localised and you would have seen the plane, so I dont accept that statement.


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## Sonrisa (Sep 2, 2010)

If not a plane, what else could have been? What are the rumours?


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## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

gerhardme1954 said:


> Saw the army arriving, on the Corniche just before the As Salam hospital, to the area where the bridge had collapsed. I think it came down with quite a bang! Not to sure what the army was doing there. More a job for the department of roads and bridges I think. I think a good civil engineer rather than a General can deal with this problem. Dont know if that was the BIG bang, but it was a bang. If a supersonic plane had gone through the sound barrier the loud bang would have been more obvious, (the jet needs to below about 13500/14000 feet) more localised and you would have seen the plane, so I dont accept that statement.


The reason why the army was there was to deal with the families of the 4 workers who died when the bridge collapsed. There were protests and clashes in the Maadi Corniche and as we all know the Egyptian police are unable at present to keep law and order. 

For what it's worth, the army in Egypt employs some of the best engineeers in the country and are in charge of many civilian projects such as the ongoing Suez Rd and the road from Cairo to Ain-Sokhna. They certainly have competent/qualified people to inspect a bridge and are probably the only public institution with the necessary equipment to sort out the mess.

According to all reports I have read the bridge went down in the night/early hours of Wednesday, so no matter how loud the bang, it was not related to the loud boom sound many heard yesterday across Cairo. I was not out in the balcony so I didn't see any planes lane:


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

aykalam said:


> Maadi Island as far as I know is right opposite the Constitutional Court building.
> 
> More on the boom today by Al Ahram:
> 
> ...


That is the illegally built army island...


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