Haiyang Island bordering China's Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea has
been reeling in pitch-black darkness the last 20 hours after
fishing boats damaged Asia's longest submarine cable on Wednesday
afternoon.
The accident occurred at around 3:00 PM on Wednesday between the
island and Dalian, a major port city in northeast China's Liaoning
Province.
At least 10 high-powered trawlers were fishing for abalone, sea
cucumbers and other expensive seafood in waters near where the
cable lay. Their fishing nets, laden with their hauls, reportedly
became entangled with the cable, and the cable burst as the
trawlers dragged their nets along the seabed.
The provincial maritime police rushed to the site and drove all
the fishing boats away immediately.
Police said they later detained the boat owners.
Power supply authorities in Dalian have sent a fleet to the site
to carry out emergency repairs, but the power failure might last
for at least another two or three days, said a spokesman for the
local government in a telephone interview with Xinhua on Thursday
morning.
"However, if the damaged parts can't be repaired, they will have
to be replaced," he said without giving his name. "In which case,
it could take as long as two months to fully restore power
supplies. And this could cost more than 20 million yuan (US$2.4
million)."
By Thursday morning, the power failure had already resulted in
at least 200,000 yuan (US$24,000) worth of direct economic losses,
particularly for local seafood processing companies.
Haiyang Island is home to about 10,000 people, mostly
fishermen.
The submarine cable under the Bohai and the Yellow Seas was
built in 1987 at the cost of 24 million yuan (US$2.9 million). Its
designed life span is 50 years.
(Xinhua News Agency June 3, 2005)