Around 900 customers in Crossmaglen village and surrounding areas were left without electricity following damage to a high voltage underground cable.

Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) has once again warned all contractors working in the vicinity of underground electricity cables to follow strict safety guidelines.

The incident occurred when a private developer working at a new site in Chapel View hit and damaged an underground cable. NIE emergency crews responded immediately restoring supplies to the majority of customers.

-- Advertisement --

Repairs to the damaged cable continued through the day with final repairs and safety checks completed in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Shirley Devlin, NIE Customer Relations Manager for the Newry area, said: "Luckily in this incident no one was injured but the results could have been very different. Contractors should exercise extreme caution when working in the vicinity of underground cables, using safe working practices such as digging trial holes and digging by hand to avoid any damage to or alteration of the location of the cable. Any incident of damage to the electricity network can cause inconvenience to customers in surrounding areas and place contractors at risk from injury.

"We would urge contractors to follow strict safety guidelines when working near underground electricity cables. Contact NIE on 08457 643 643 in good time prior to starting work to request a free marked up map of the underground network. With good working practices the number of these incidences and the inconvenience to our customers could be dramatically reduced."

(CD/GK)