A PHONE network is down across Spain with emergency services out of contact just weeks after a national blackout caused chaos.
The national communications network Telefonica is encountering issues that are impacting corporate landline networks and data services, leading to the establishment of alternative numbers by some emergency services.
At 8:15 am local time, the 112 call center in the Valencian Community was the first to report the outage, which has since spread to the Basque Country, Andalusia, Extremadura, and Aragon.
The exact cause of the devastating outage has not yet been specified, with work underway to restore normal service.
The Valencian Community Emergency 112 indicated that the outage could be due to incidents “reported on the national communications network”.
All voice services by Telefonica have been affected.
Issues that caused the outage are “unrelated to 112 in the Valencian Community,” according to GVA.
According to a Telefonica representative, certain network upgrades have been implemented, resulting in disruptions to particular services at various companies. Efforts are underway to address and rectify these challenges.
It comes after 30,000 users across several towns and cities on La Palma island lost electricity earlier in May, according to the local council.
Towns including Los Llanos de Aridane, Breña Alta, Santa Cruz de La Palma, and Fuencaliente, were affected
The island was not affected by the massive blackout that hit most of Spain and Portugal on April 28.
Airports and hospitals shut down and trains screeched to a halt across the Iberian peninsula – with officials blaming a “rare atmospheric phenomenon” for the power cut.
Roads in Spain, Portugal and parts of France were left snarled up with traffic as lights and signals went blank – with emergency officers drafted in to tackle the bedlam.
Hundreds of passengers were also left trapped on trains.
In Madrid, emergency crews carried out 286 rescues to free people trapped in lifts, while passengers in Portugal were forced to flee darkened underground tunnels.
La Palma is the Canary Islands’ fifth largest island and is known for its fresh produce and exports nearly all of Spain’s bananas every year, alongside sweet mangos, avocados and papayas.
