Ships did not cut internet cables: Egypt

ABC News ^ | February 3, 2008

[NCjim]

Ships are not responsible for damaging undersea internet cables in the Mediterranean, Egypt's Government says.

Two cables were damaged earlier this week in the Mediterranean sea and another off the coast of Dubai, causing widespread disruption to internet and international telephone services in Egypt, Gulf Arab states and South Asia.

A fourth cable linking Qatar to the United Arab Emirates was damaged on Sunday causing yet more disruptions, telecommunication provider Qtel said.

Egypt's transport ministry said footage recorded by onshore video cameras of the location of the cables showed no maritime traffic in the area when the cables were damaged.

"The ministry's maritime transport committee reviewed footage covering the period of 12 hours before and 12 hours after the cables were cut and no ships sailed the area," a statement said.

"The area is also marked on maps as a no-go zone and it is therefore ruled out that the damage to the cables was caused by ships."

Earlier reports said that the damage had been caused by ships that had been diverted off their usual route because of bad weather.

A repair ship is expected to begin work to fix the two Mediterranean cables on Tuesday.

[KTM rider]

doesnt Iran have some old soviet diesels ?

[Stonewall Jackson]

Scooby, Scooby, Squid?

[bobby.223]

mike nelson.

[KTM rider]

Iran launches 2nd Sonar Avoiding Light Submarine

[MindBender26]

How deep was the water where the cables were cut?

[spanalot]

Youre all wrong - its the russkies trying to get tension up again - they are the ones that benefit by this in terms of higher oil prices.

[yankeedame]

Yes, and how many times
must a cable get cut
before we see there's a plan ...

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind...

[MizSterious]

Yes, hmmm indeed. Thanks for posting this update, NCJim.

[KTM rider]

"Youre all wrong - its the russkies trying to get tension up again - they are the ones that benefit by this in terms of higher oil prices. "

I thought the ruskies and iran are alies.

[cricket]

Not even a hint of speculation offered here as to the ‘what/how’ of this. Leaving us to our own worst imaginations...

[steve86]

The cut cables affected the whole middle east - including India.

India is not part of the ME, of course, but south Asia also was affected.

[BGHater]

Details for router1.iust.ac.ir

Router: router1.iust.ac.ir (194.225.239.1)
Location	Current Index	Response Time (ms)	Packet Loss (%)
Iran (Tehran)	0	0	100

This graph shows the Traffic Index for the past 24 hours. This graph is updated nightly.
This graph shows the Response Time for the past 24 hours. This graph is updated nightly.
This graph shows the Packet Loss for the past 24 hours. This graph is updated nightly.

[pierrem15]

I think you’re right. Pracice run for taking out comm lines off US coasts? Disruption of military communications in the Middle East?

[spanalot]

russkies sell to iran - russia makes no friends

[Thrownatbirth]

The depth was relatively shallow, less than 200 ft or so, if a ship dragged an anchor over it as originally reported.

[Myrddin]

Wonder if any American companies that outsourced are having some second thoughts?

There's nothing quite like having your whole corporate life hanging on an internet connection. It's about as stupid as you can be. I never worried about outsourcing as I always expected this kind of event was waiting in the wings.

[G Larry]

I’m voting for new Iranian sub!

[NonValueAdded]

and here I thought it was “swimmin’ in the sea”

[OCC]

It will be interesting to see how this story pans out. Something is going on... might even be bigger than the Giants upset or Britney Spears being placed in the booby hatch.

[vger]

Forget the swordfish, it was probably one of these sawfish what done it!