A ‘complete outage’ has hit Shetland leaving islanders without access to internet, phones or computers.
Police Scotland said that engineers are currently working to fix the outage, which is affecting Shetland's connection to the main line.
Officers are patrolling the area and will update residents on the situation when they have more information.
Highland & Islands Police Division tweeted: "Engineers are working to fix a complete outage on Shetland affecting its connection to the main line.
Engineers are working to fix a complete outage on Shetland affecting its connection to the main line.
— Northern Police (@northernPolice) October 20, 2022
Phones, internet and computers are not usable.
Officers will continue to patrol the area and we will give you an update on the situation as soon as we have more information. pic.twitter.com/0wFYrHnmiE
"Phones, internet and computers are not usable.
"Officers will continue to patrol the area and we will give you an update on the situation as soon as we have more information."
Local reports suggest that landlines can phone out, but that residents cannot receive incoming communications other than those served by Shetland BroadBand.
Responding to the cutting of the subsea cable connecting Shetland to mainland Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP for Shetland Beatrice Wishart said:
“I want to begin by expressing my gratitude to all the engineers and emergency services who have stepped up so quickly to try and resolve this disruption and reassure residents.
“My constituents are understandably concerned by the news this morning. There is an extremely limited telephone and broadband service, which has huge repercussions for families and businesses across the islands.
“I am in limited contact with the Scottish Government to keep me updated on what can be done to resolve the incident as swiftly as possible.
“This kind of disruption points to the fundamental vulnerability of our current island infrastructure. We need long-term changes to create a resilient service that can guarantee residents connectivity, reliability and safety.”
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