Dubai Port Trust authorities have held two ships suspected for cutting the undersea fibre optic cables that disrupted Internet services across Middle East, Asia and North Africa.
The ships, MT Ann and MV Hounslow, were caught after Reliance Flag, which owns the cables, passed along satellite images of the two ships in the vicinity of the cables when the damage took place.
This may not be part of any "conspiracy" as the authorities believe that undersea cable were damaged because of jerks and force of the ship. Details on Hindu and ET.
If you are curious to know how ships detect and repair the damaged undersea cables, watch this video animation from Alcatel-Lucent via Bonnie.net.
Find this article at: http://www.labnol.org/internet/favorites/the-ships-that-cut-the-undersea-internet-cables/2904/
Reader Comments
Thanks Amit for the informative article and also for the animation.
Written by Ganesh Shenoy on 04.10.08
Hi,
Interesting this article because we (in Cape Verde Islands), had several time our optical fiber connection by ships.
Thanks for the animation.
Written by Nuno on 04.10.08
Thanks Amit for the info and animation – What was learnt from the ships cutting action? Any back up plan to prevent or reduce future cable interference? Or any alternative internet supply on hand (compare generators for power cuts)?
Written by pcsourcepoint on 04.10.08
Thx for sharing – I’ve always wondered how severed undersea cables are reattached.
Written by Jimmy on 04.10.08
Heh, the video rocks. They should make a movie on this. Like The Perfect Storm meets Ghost Ship meets Lost or something. haha.
Written by Aalaap on 04.12.08