Power outage that lasted almost 2 hours caused by transfer of high-voltage cables from Dubai Mall substation last night

  DUBAI – The transfer of high-voltages cables from the Dubai Mall substation caused a line to trip and plunged the world's largest mall in darkness for nearly two hours last night. The power outage prompted the mall's 1,000 commercial establishments to ask visitors and shoppers to exit the store premises in the meantime. Restaurants closed their doors and stopped serving customers as security personnel cordoned the Dubai Metro entrance to the mall. The mall's emergency lights and mobile phones were the only sources of light inside the mall during the blackout. Back-up power was used for the elevators. There were differing reports on what time power at Dubai Mall went out. One report said the blackout started at 7:13 p.m. while another said it began at 7:20 p.m. Power was reportedly restored at 8:47 p.m, according to one news report, but another said electricity came back past 9 p.m. In a statement, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) said the power outage "was caused by the transfer of high-voltage cables from Dubai Mall substation, based on a request from Emaar." The rest of Dewa's statement said: "Dewa and Emaar had previously agreed to transfer the cables. During the transfer, the outage occurred because one line went out of service. Dewa's technicians fully restored power very quickly. The electricity and water supply to the rest of the area was not affected." "Dewa would like to thank everyone who worked on the matter, especially Dubai Police, Dubai Civil Defence, Dubai Ambulance Corporation and The Media Office, as well as Dewa's working teams, the Mall management and staff, and retail outlet owners." Dubai Mall management, for its part, apologized for the incident and the inconvenience it caused to shoppers saying in a statement: "Power has been restored in The Dubai Mall and all operations have resumed. We regret the inconvenience caused to our visitors and thank them for their patience. We are investigating the incident with the concerned authorities and are taking all measures to ensure uninterrupted operations of the mall." GAC/Expat 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