Major Incident Declared As Shetland Loses Internet
Police declare major incident, as damage to subsea cable cuts Shetland’s communications including phones, internet off from British mainland
The majority of communications between the Shetland Islands and the British mainland have reportedly been severed, amid reports that the south subsea cable between the islands and the mainland has been cut.
The police have declared a major incident the Scotsman reported, as telephones and internet connections with the British Island have been knocked offline.
According to the Scotsman, communications with Shetland have been completely severed after another cable connecting Shetland and Faroe was damaged last week – and repairs to that are still being carried out.
Major incident
Engineers are reportedly trying to restore communications on the island.
Meanwhile it is reported that Police Scotland are also working with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and HM Coastguard to discuss bringing additional emergency support to the island.
An outage is affecting some landlines, mobiles and internet on Shetland. In an emergency you can try calling 999 even if you don’t have a signal. We have extra patrols out and about in case of an emergency More: https://t.co/GXwOmiDAX5 pic.twitter.com/vhYvW7RmNI
— Northern Police (@northernPolice) October 20, 2022
The police said that officers will patrol the area in an effort to reassure, and local people have been asked to check in on vulnerable people more frequently.
BT statement
BT told Silicon UK that engineers are working to divert services via other routes.
“Due to a break in a third-party subsea cable connecting Shetland with the Scottish mainland, some phone, TV, broadband and mobile services are affected,” BT told Silicon UK in a statement.
“Engineers are working to divert services via other routes as soon as possible and we’ll provide further update,” the carrier said. “Our external subsea provider is also looking to restore their link quickly. Anyone who needs to call 999 should try their landline, tv or their mobile, even if they don’t have signal from their own mobile provider. We’re sorry for any inconvenience.”
Sixteen of the Shetland islands are inhabited, with a total population of 23,000 people.
