Thousands cut off in mass power outage, arson suspected
Around 10,000 households in Reutlingen in southwestern Germany have been left without electricity after a substation failure, with the local grid operator suspecting arson.
Police said critical infrastructure has been affected, including hospitals and nursing homes. Telephone and internet connections were also only partly working, adding to disruption across the area.
Reutlingen, a city of about 100,000 people located roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Stuttgart in Baden-Württemberg, saw the outage begin shortly before 2 a.m. local time.
Netze BW (Netze Baden-Württemberg, Baden-Württemberg Grid) said investigators found indications of three separate fires at the substation. The fence and the grounds outside the facility were also damaged, pointing to possible deliberate interference.
Hours after the failure, electricity had been restored to only about half of the roughly 20,000 households initially affected. Officials said it was still unclear when power would return to the remaining neighborhoods in Reutlingen and nearby areas.
The suspected attack has already caused damage estimated in the millions of euros. State police said all possible causes are being examined and that arson specialists are involved, a standard step in major outage investigations.
The case is drawing comparisons to recent suspected far-left arson attacks in Berlin. In September, fires there cut electricity to around 50,000 homes and 2,000 businesses for several days, and another January attack on high-voltage cables triggered Berlin’s largest blackout since World War II during freezing weather.