The post offices went haywire, hotel bookings were blocked, the whole online activity was paralyzed, no top-up cards or fax, panic for the risk of a business decrease. This is what is happening in Lampedusa at the moment after a breakdown of the Adsl cable that allows the transfer of data on the web. The blackout was probably caused  by a boat that damaged the submerged cable between Cala Grecale and Cala Pisana.

This is not the first time that such  accidents happen, it had already happened last Christmas and the problem had been solved after a month. But this time the problems could be more serious because of the many tourists on the island. The local tourism councillor, economist Pietro Busetta, immediately contacted Telecom asking the company to repair the problem. Busetta also spoke with the Regional councillors for Tourism and Infrastructures, Nino Strano and Luigi Gentile, urging them to intervene as soon as possible to solve a problem that has been occurring frequently and that damages communication and tourism, the basis of the economy of the island.
 

Translated by Chiara Nunnari from John Milton Institute