CAIRO, Mar 4 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt's ministry of health said 40 people were injured in the Cairo conference centre fire earlier on Wednesday, among which 10 have been hospitalised.

The ministry said in a statement that the rest of the injured were treated on site and that no one was killed in the fire. 

An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway. However, Interior Ministry spokesman Hany Abdel Latif said a preliminary investigation suggests that the fire was caused by a short circuit that came as a result of a malfunction in the central air conditioner, state-run al-Ahram reported. 

The fire, which erupted in the afternoon, has now been extinguished after civil protection forces flocked to the conference centre in Nasr City, where a military aircraft assisted in controlling the flames. 

Two of the convention centre's halls were damaged in the fire but two other halls, including the centre's largest hall were not affected, a statement by the cabinet said. A hallway leading to the largest hall was however damaged.