Turin power outage 'due to cable damage'

(ANSA) - Turin, June 30 - A power outage across the capital of Italy's northern Piedmont province on Thursday morning was caused by a cable that had been damaged at a work site where fiber optic lines are being laid, reported the local power company Iren.
    The Turin utility company denied all responsibility. The incident occurred due to problems with the distribution plant after a medium-tension cable was damaged during digging as part of preparations for the laying of the fiber-optic network in an area between Corso Lecce and Corso Appio Claudio by a firm that is not linked to Iren, the company said in a statement. It added that it was thanks to company technicians and firemen who had been called to the site that the problems lasted only a short time.
    Power in half the city was cut off for a couple of hours.