Danish capital loses power

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The Danish capital, Copenhagen, and parts of Sweden have been hit by massive power cuts.

Around four million homes and businesses lost supplies at around 1240 local time (1040GMT). Engineers restored most power by late afternoon, but the exact cause of the cuts remained unclear.

The problem stretched as far north as the Swedish capital, Stockholm, where the underground railway reportedly shut down for half an hour.

Blackouts happen in the winter, but this made us wonder, since we have seen New York and London this year

The blackout follows similar incidents in London earlier this month, and in a huge swathe of North America in August.

Sabotage was not suspected, police said, but some residents said their first thoughts were of a possible terrorist connection.

"People were out everywhere and there was a sense of fear as to what this meant," said one emailer to BBC News Online.

"Blackouts happen in the winter, but this made us wonder, since we have seen New York and London this year."

Electricity officials said the power cuts started when a main transmission line connecting Sweden and Denmark was affected.

Reports said a storm which swept through the area, bringing down trees, may have been a factor, but electricity officials said it was impossible to confirm whether the timing was a coincidence.

At least two Swedish nuclear plants - Oskarshamn and Ringhals - appear to have then developed problems and had to shut down production units.

Two million consumers in southern Sweden and 1.8m in Copenhagen were affected.

Some people were trapped in trains in a tunnel linking the Danish islands of Funen and Seeland. Others were stuck in lifts for up to two hours.

The Danish island of Bornholm was also hit.

Traffic chaos

Copenhagen airport and the Oeresund bridge and tunnel, linking the capital to Sweden, were reportedly closed, with scenes of traffic chaos in Copenhagen centre.

Railway and underground train services ground to a halt. Officials said passengers on at least two new driverless underground trains were evacuated without incident.

Reporters said hundreds of people emerged from shops in Copenhagen city centre to see what was happening, and used their mobile phones to contact their families.

Hospitals switched to be using emergency generators.

Nuclear power officials insisted that there was no safety threat from the shutdowns, which happened if there were big imbalances in the network and pressure suddenly fell.

"The security systems there worked just as they should," said Anders Jorle, chief spokesman at the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate.


We asked you for your power cut experiences and views. Here is a selection of your replies.

Something's afoot methinks. What's with all these blackouts? Anyway, the Danes are pretty cool and take things like this in their stride. I'm sure the capital will be operating at its usual efficiency after a few hours. Very, very strange though...
Julian Howkins, Denmark

The third major power outage in two months... the two other ones happened in countries where government supported the war too. Time will tell if there is a link between all theses blackouts. Hopefully it is just bad luck...
Sebastien, Denmark

If Europe is more closely interconnected, as is intended, could a simple incident in a small area lead to the collapse of each interconnected region like a domino effect? Is this because the spinning reserve capacity of the regions affected are insufficient to take up the shortfall in available power?
Gordon Gosling, England

The Danish power cuts have affected Greenland as well. The Bank of Greenland announced that the power cuts had affected all transactions between Greenland and Denmark, leaving Greenlanders with no oportunity to shop.
Edward Moerch, Greenland

I got stuck in a lift for an hour. There were seven of us - five women and two men. The women were really terrified. When power was restored a few minutes ago, there was hugging and kisses as soon as we got out of the lift.
John Birongo, central Copenhagen

I went down to the city centre where almost all the shops, government agencies, coffee houses, street lights, had a blackout. People were out everywhere and there was a sense of fear as to what this meant. I have not seen something like this in my 14 years in this country. Blackouts happen in the winter, but only up in northern Sweden, due to the snow. But this made us wonder, since we have seen New York and London this year.

BBC

-- Anonymous, September 28, 2003


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