The German army is helping to refuel emergency power generators in Berlin as thousands of homes remained without power on Monday following the sabotage of cables at the weekend.
The Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces, received a request for assistance from the state of Berlin during the day, a spokeswoman for the Operational Command told dpa.
The operation began in the evening at a depot of the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) in the capital’s affected south-west. Left-wing extremists claimed responsibility for the incendiary attack on a cable bridge over a canal early on Saturday.
The request was for the provision of around 18,000 litres of diesel, including a tanker truck. The operating crews are to be “shift-ready” to ensure critical services are maintained, the spokeswoman added.
“There is a particular focus on supplying care facilities,” she said.
The army support operation is provisionally planned to last until 11 pm (2200 GMT) on Thursday.
Initially, 45,000 households and more than 2,200 businesses were affected by the damage to the supply grid. Over 17,000 customers since had their power restored.
The operator Stromnetz Berlin is attempting to repair the high-voltage power lines as quickly as possible. It was previously announced that the damage would be completely repaired by Thursday.
A German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) tanker is parked at a depot of the THW technical relief organization and is being prepared. Tens of thousands of people in the southwest of the capital have no electricity. Christophe Gateau/dpa