Worthy Christian News > World News > Portugal, Spain Investigating Deadly Power Outage (Worthy News Focus)

Portugal, Spain Investigating Deadly Power Outage (Worthy News Focus)

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

MADRID/AMSTERDAM (Worthy News) – Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has vowed to “get to the bottom” of the unprecedented power cut that hit the Iberian peninsula on Monday and is thought to have killed at least five people in Spain.

Though energy operators in Spain and Portugal ruled out the possibility of a cyber-attack, Sánchez stressed that “no hypothesis” was being ruled out while the country’s intelligence services continued their investigations and analysis.

It came amid growing concerns in Europe about Russian involvement in attacks on its computer systems and related services.

While the blackout was hitting the Iberian peninsula, a large-scale cyberattack hit multiple Dutch municipalities and provinces on Monday morning, rendering the websites of more than twenty local governments inaccessible for several hours, officials said.

The attack, claimed by the pro-Russian hacker group NoName, caused significant disruption but did “not compromise critical infrastructure or steal any data,” authorities suggested.

Yet, the blackout in further away Spain and Portugal appeared more serious. Besides plunging cities into darkness and leaving tens of thousands of travelers trapped on trains, it contributed to the death of five people in Spain, authorities said.

A family of three died from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning after using a generator in the north-west of the country, while a woman died in Valencia after her oxygen machine failed. Another woman reportedly died in Madrid in a fire started by a candle.

ELECTRICITY RESTORED

On Tuesday morning, after electricity had been restored to both countries, Prime Minister Sánchez said that while it was still too early to know exactly what had gone wrong with the power supply, lessons would be learned to prevent further large-scale blackouts.

“It’s clear that what happened yesterday can’t happen again,” he added as he announced the creation of a commission to investigate the incident, which will also examine the role of private energy companies.

The prime minister said his administration would “get to the bottom of this matter” by implementing any necessary reforms and enacting measures required to ensure no repetition of Monday’s events.

Despite energy providers in Spain and Portugal concluding that a cyber-attack was not to blame for the loss of power, Sánchez once again stressed that “no hypothesis” was being ruled out while the country’s intelligence services continued their investigations and analysis.

The prime minister also warned people to be on the lookout for “fake news” that was still circulating. He dismissed suggestions that the blackout resulted from his administration’s decision to phase out nuclear power.

“Those who link this incident to the lack of nuclear power are frankly lying or demonstrating their ignorance,” Sánchez said, adding that nuclear power generation “was no more resilient” than other electricity sources.

Officials announced late Tuesday morning that all of Spain’s electricity substations were back up and running and that the country’s power supply had been restored.

PORTUGAL SUBSTATIONS

Across the border in Portugal, the electricity operator REN said all substations were fully operational, and the national network had been “perfectly stabilized” by 11.30 p.m. on Monday.

However, before power was restored, customers at restaurants were seen burning candles, while passengers in subway (metro) stations or customers in dark grocery stores were forced to use flashlights or their cell phones to find their way. After the power cut on Monday, about 35,000 people were reportedly rescued from more than 100 trains.

With millions of people impacted, Portugal’s prime minister, Luís Montenegro, said his government would ask the European Union’s Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators to perform “an independent audit of the electrical systems of the affected countries to fully determine the causes of this situation.”

Extended widespread outages are unusual in Europe’s developed nations.

Yet in 2003, a problem with a hydroelectric power line between Italy and Switzerland caused blackouts for about 12 hours. Separately, in 2006, an overloaded power network in Germany caused electricity cuts across parts of the country and in France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

Yet Monday’s massive outage underscored vulnerabilities and raised security concerns, with authorities urging Europeans to have survival kits lasting 72 hours.

Authorities say such kits should contain items such as a radio, water, photocopies of identification documents, cash, a radio with batteries, a charger and a phone battery, a flashlight, matches and a lighter in case of power failure, a first aid kit, water, food.

And board games to pass the time.