In Spain, train passengers were locked up overnight due to cable theft

In Spain, traffic on the high-speed rail network stopped overnight due to the theft of a copper cable, the country's transport minister Oscar Puente said on May 5.

"We have experienced an act of serious sabotage on the Madrid—Seville high—speed line," he wrote on the social network X (ex. Twitter).

According to the minister, the theft of the cable occurred at five points. At the moment, the operation of the high-speed railway network has already been restored.

On the evening of May 4, it became known about four cable thefts on the high-speed line between Madrid and Seville within a radius of 10 km. According to the Spanish newspaper ABC, this led to disruption of railway traffic — nine trains were stuck between stations, and passengers had to spend the night in the carriages. The Civil Guard is investigating the incident.

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The damage to the country's economy could exceed 1 billion euros

Large-scale power and communication outages also occurred in Spain and Portugal on April 28. Major cities such as Valencia, Barcelona, Madrid, La Coruna and Seville were affected, and serious disruptions also occurred at Madrid—Barajas International Airport. Power supply problems were observed in Andorra and parts of France.

In the evening of the same day, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced the restoration of electricity in half of the country. The authorities used fuel reserves to maintain the energy supply.