As the supply of electricity started to be restored to parts of Spain and Portugal after the massive outage, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez said there was no conclusive information on what caused the power outage. He said officials were trying to determine the cause and had not yet ruled out any theories, but he urged the public to avoid speculation.
Power has already been restored in parts of the north and south, he said, adding that the blackout has not resulted in any security problems.
‘Use phones responsibly’
Sánchez urged people to use phones “responsibly,” meaning making calls only when necessary and to keeping them brief to ease strain on the system. “The government is working, and will continue to work, to learn the cause of this power outage. Right now, the priority is to work to restore normality as soon as possible,” he said.
Train services halted
Spain will not resume long- and medium-distance train services today, the country’s minister of transport Oscar Puente said.
Authorities have been trying to rescue passengers from 116 trains that were stranded due to the power outage, Puente added. As of 12:30 p.m. ET, 26 trains were still to be evacuated.
Puente urged the public to avoid traveling by car but said road freight and public transportation were still operational.
Cyberattack behind power outage?
Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, said there were no indications of a cyberattack. Costa, who was prime minister of Portugal between 2015 and 2024, said he spoke today with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro. “Grid operators in both countries are working on finding the cause, and on restoring the electricity supply,” Costa wrote on X. “At this point, there are no indications of any cyberattack,” he added.
Portugese prime minister Luis Montenegro said the power outage originated in Spain. “We have our intelligence services also trying to get to the bottom of what may have been at the root of the incident.”
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