Egypt’s coastguard caught three divers cutting an undersea internet cable and causing disruptions to online services on Wednesday, Telegraph reports.
The damage was caused on South East Asia-Middle East-West Europe 4 (SEA-ME-WE 4) cable which links France to Singapore, with branches connecting telecommunication companies in Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Italy, Tunisia and Algeria, IT World informs.
According to the military spokesperson, the divers were arrested near the city of Alexandria.
The motive for this crime is still unknown.
After restoring the services, the firm which carries traffic for other companies reported that another connection had been cut.
As Telegraph reports, Egypt Telecom informed that one of its cables had been cut 750 meters off the coast.
“The estimated time to repair has not been announced as of yet, as PTCL and TWA are in communication with SEA-ME-WE-4 consortium members to determine the time it will take to repair the cable,” Wateen Telecom said in a statement published on The Express Tribune.
[mappress] Subsea World News Staff, March 28, 2013