Power supplies were restored on Sunday on Haiyang Island, located between China's Yellow and Bohai Seas, 89 hours after parts of a submarine cable were damaged by fishing trawlers, leaving the island in total darkness.
Technicians from Liaoning Province, northeast China, and Haiyang Island, found 13 damaged parts of the submarine cable in the Yellow Sea by 11:35 AM Sunday and repaired them up immediately.
The cable was destroyed at about 3:00 PM Wednesday when at least 10 high-powered fishing trawlers fishing for abalone and sea cucumber gathered around the cable in waters between the island and Dalian, a major port city in Liaoning Province.
The power failure has caused an estimated 20 million yuan (US$2.4 million) in direct economic losses, particularly for local seafood processing companies.
Haiyang Island, famous for producing abalone and fin, is home to about 10,000 people, mostly fishermen.
The submarine cable under the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea, the only source of power supply on the island, was built in 1987 at a cost of 24 million yuan (US$2.9 million).
(Xinhua News Agency June 6, 2005)
