Partial blackout in Prague paralyzed parliament and transport, while the airport received bomb threats

In some districts of Prague, the Czech Republic, a massive power outage occurred on Friday morning, November 6, disrupting public transport, traffic lights, and Parliament. Separately, aircraft at Prague Airport received bomb threats. UNN reports this, citing ČTK and local authorities.

Details

The power outage in part of Prague lasted about 45 minutes, affecting 70,000 customers. The outage affected, among others, the Prague 5 and Prague 6 districts.

"Today at around 9:30 a.m., a fault occurred at the "Praha Západ" substation. As a result, a power outage occurred in (the districts of) Prague 5 and Prague 6. Firefighters responded to 5 emergencies involving the rescue of people from elevators. Tram traffic was restricted due to the outage," the Prague City Fire and Rescue Service said on X.

Police and firefighters also reported that the power outage caused traffic lights to stop working in the affected districts.

Power has already been restored in part of Prague, Karel Hanzelka, a spokesperson for the energy company Prague Energy (PRE), told ČTK. The power outage on the left bank of the Vltava lasted about 45 minutes, affecting 70,000 customers. It was caused by a short circuit at the Západ substation; the Červený vrch substation was also put out of operation, he said.

"The overall power outage lasted a maximum of 44 minutes. We managed to restore connections in some locations relatively quickly, within a few minutes," the spokesperson said.

The Chamber of Deputies, located in the Prague 1 district, was also forced to interrupt its proceedings due to the power outage.

The morning power outage also affected Prague's Central Military Hospital (ÚVN) and the Motol and Homolka University Hospital (FNMH), which are located on the left bank of the Vltava. They operated on backup power sources and have now restored power from the grid. 

Bomb threat reports

According to the Czech police, aircraft at Prague Airport also received bomb threats.

"Today, a threat to place an explosive device on board a large number of aircraft arriving at and departing from Prague Airport was repeated. In cooperation with Prague Airport, we took the necessary security measures with minimal impact on the airport's normal operations. We continue to deal with the matter," the Czech police said on X.