ALL major phone networks have gone down across Spain, with emergency services out of contact just weeks after a national blackout caused chaos.
Disruptions have been noted in major networks such as Movistar, Orange, Vodafone, Digimobil, Telefónica, and O2, prompting some 112 emergency lines to create alternative contact numbers for residents.
The outages are affecting most of the country, including major tourist hotspots like Madrid, Malaga, Barcelona, Valencia, Murcia, Seville and Bilbao.
According to Downdetector which reports service issues to businesses, the chaos began at around 5am this morning.
The Department of Security said that emergency call centre operators noticed “problems with some of the calls coming [in]”.
Those impacted by the service disruption, who were in urgent need of emergency services, experienced “cut off” communication during calls, requiring operators to return their calls.
The 112 call center in the Valencian Community initially reported the issue, which subsequently spread to affect 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.
Emergency phone lines have so far been restored in Aragon, but problems continue across the country.
Issues that caused the outage are “unrelated to 112 in the Valencian Community,” according to GVA.
A Telefonica spokesperson said: “We have carried out some network upgrades that have affected specific services at some companies.
“We are working to resolve this.”
The Valencian Government’s 112 Emergency Service has activated an alternative number for those affected.
Meanwhile the 112 service in Aragon took to social media to make people aware that “the 112 telephone line is inoperative,” and activated three alternative numbers.
The horror incident isn’t affecting all calls but appears to be occurring randomly.
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 mangoes, avocados and papayas.
