Berlin Power Outage Hits 50,000 After Suspected Arson Attack

(Bloomberg) -- Tens of thousands Berlin residents were left without power after fires damaged two electricity pylons, with investigators examining the possibility of a politically-motivated attack.

The outage began in the early morning hours on Tuesday, affecting large parts of southeast Berlin and leaving around 50,000 households and businesses without electricity, according to the local grid operator.

A spokesperson for the Berlin police said the incident was likely an arson attack, with both the methods and targets indicating it may have been politically motivated. National security authorities have taken over the investigation and are gathering evidence. 

While smaller outages occur regularly in the German capital, an incident of this scale is considered highly unusual. Several tram lines have seen their service interrupted by the event, and some traffic lights in the area have stopped working.

So far, about 15,000 households and businesses have been reconnected to the grid, the police said. Local grid operator Stromnetz Berlin added that it cannot yet provide a timeline for the full restoration of supply.

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