Tens of thousands of homes in Berlin will be without electricity until Thursday as authorities struggle to repair power cables seriously damaged in a suspected arson attack, officials said.
Some may also be without heating as the outage has affected local systems, at a time when the German capital is blanketed in snow and temperatures are hovering around freezing.
Emergency services were alerted early on Jan. 3 that several high-voltage cables on a bridge near a power plant had gone up in flames.
Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze, but about 45,500 households and 2,200 businesses in districts in southwest Berlin were left without power, according to grid operator Stromnetz Berlin.
The extensive damage means that around 35,000 households will be without electricity until Thursday afternoon, Berlin authorities said in a statement. Power should be restored to other homes by early yesterday.
"We are dealing with a particularly serious power outage affecting tens of thousands of households and businesses, including care facilities, hospitals, numerous social institutions, and companies," said Franziska Giffey, Berlin senator for economic affairs.
The local district heating system -- which transports heat around a pipe network in the area -- is affected as it is powered by electricity.
Stromnetz Berlin warned that repair work "will take a very long time", with media reports saying that cold weather was hindering efforts to lay new underground cables.
Police deployed about 160 officers to the site of the incident in the Lichterfelde area and said they were "investigating on suspicion of arson."
