Sabotage causes power cut in Nice after Cannes film festival

By Euronews

Published on 25/05/2025 - 13:29 GMT+2

Following nan Cannes festivities, nan metropolis of Nice knowledgeable a powerfulness outage connected Saturday night, leaving astir 45,000 homes temporarily without electricity.

According to nan nationalist prosecutor's office, a occurrence collapsed retired astatine an electrical transformer successful nan Moulins district, successful nan westbound of Nice.

Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi said nan occurrence had been deliberately started and that he "strongly condemned these malicious acts that impact our country" successful a station connected X.

He added that nan metropolis would beryllium strengthening its information astir electrical sites successful nan coming days and that a general title would beryllium revenge pursuing nan incident.

Power was restored astir 6 a.m. connected Sunday. The neighboring towns of Saint-Laurent-du-Var and Cagnes-sur-Mer were besides affected by nan blackout.

Power outage connected Cannes Festival’s closing day

The incident follows a blackout that struck Cannes and nan surrounding region nan erstwhile day, affecting astir 160,000 homes. Authorities opportunity nan outage was caused by deliberate acts of sabotage.

A high-voltage substation was group connected occurrence successful nan Var department, and a powerfulness pylon was sawn down successful nan Alpes-Maritimes. Despite nan disruption, nan Cannes Film Festival proceeded arsenic planned connected its last day, acknowledgment to its independent powerfulness supply. Electricity was restored to nan region by precocious afternoon.

At this stage, location is nary denotation that nan 2 incidents are connected.