ELECTRICITY CABLE EXPLOSION SCARE

PALMA
RESIDENTS in central Palma were unnerved just before midnight on Wednesday by an enormous explosion in calle Nicolau de Pacs where it meets calle Fausto Morell, apparently the result of a failure in a high tension electricity cable.

Emergency services attended the scene when the alarm was raised as there were initial fears the explosion may have been the work of Basque terrorists ETA. Although exact causes are still being investigated, a first analysis suggests that the 15'000 volt cable which is normally covered in underground ducts was left exposed because of local building work. There was no power supply from the time of the explosion until after 1am when the cable was replaced. Electricity company GESA said more than 10'000 people were affected by the blackout.