LONDON — A cut in an undersea cable has left up to tens of thousands of people in the remote Shetland Islands, Scotland, more than 100 miles north of mainland Britain across the sea from Norway, but unexpectedly from the world on Thursday. Officials said it was cut off.
A spokesman for BT Group, which serves the region, said in a statement that a third-party submarine cable linking Shetland to mainland Scotland had been cut, leaving some phones, TVs, internet and mobile It said service was affected.
“Engineers are working to bypass the service via other routes as soon as possible,” the statement said, adding that third-party providers were working to restore that link.
BT Group warned those in need of emergency services to use other means, such as landline phones, during the outage.
BT Group did not immediately respond to a request for further comment on what the cable repair work would look like, when service could be fully restored, or when the company learned of the cable break. The cause of the interruption was not determined.
Another cable from Faroe to Shetland was still awaiting repair after being damaged last week. BBC reported.
About 23,000 people live in Shetland. According to Scottish government statistics.
Scottish police said in a statement Thursday A power outage had affected some landline and mobile phone lines in Shetland, including the Internet.
Superintendent David Ross said in a statement, “We are advising residents not to make non-emergency calls for the time being so that all available lines can be used urgently if necessary.” I advised him to go to the nearest police station and report it. Emergency if the emergency line is not connected.
Officers are patrolling the area by car and on foot, and authorities are working with partners to make additional resources available, he said.
By Thursday afternoon, there were visible signs of a power outage in the Shetland Islands.a website Because the Shetland Islands Council appeared to be down and calls to the Council were not answered.
Another call to Shetland University in Lerwick was also unsuccessful.
The Shetland Islands have about 100 islands, but only 16 are inhabited. Traveling to and from the Shetland Islands is not easy and requires an overnight ferry or flight from Aberdeen on Scotland’s east coast.