Small plane crashed: a million Spaniards without electricity

A massive blackout caused problems in Spain. It is now clear how many people were cut off from the electricity grid: more than a million. The reason was apparently a crashed small plane.

The cause of the massive blackout was in France: there are several important high-voltage lines that supply the Iberian Peninsula with energy. According to media reports, a small plane had an accident in the afternoon and damaged several of these power connections. The operator then switched off the lines as a precaution.

The Spanish region of Catalonia was particularly affected: the connections of around 645,000 electricity customers were dead. Households in the capital region of Madrid, Andalusia, the Basque Country, the Valencia region and several provinces of Portugal were also cut off from the grid.

Baggage carousel at Barcelona Airport has stopped

There were also problems at Barcelona Airport: the luggage belts stood still. No more luggage could be processed, arriving passengers waited in vain for their suitcases. In Madrid, the authorities report that people got stuck in elevators, and the fire brigade had to free them in isolated cases. Overall, however, there were no major incidents due to the power failure.

After just under an hour – around 5:30 p.m. – the power supply was restored to all of Spain and Portugal.