Sabotage is not being ruled out as the cause of an explosion at the Marsa power station that plunged the country into darkness early yesterday morning. There has so far been no official announcement on the possible causes of the blast but government officials spoke in those terms shortly after the incident occurred.
Enemalta Corporation's chairman Alex Tranter said: "I understand that press reports have observed that this is not the first time we had a power cut because of a fault at the Marsa power station while Enemalta was being discussed on television or in Parliament."
He was interviewed on TVM on Tuesday evening in a programme that coincided with the reading of Enemalta's estimates in Parliament.
Mr Tranter pointed out that a magisterial inquiry and a police investigation were under way to discover the cause of the blackout but nothing could yet be "revealed".
In fact, he would not take any questions from journalists when he addressed a press conference, citing the ongoing investigations.
The incident happened at 6.15 a.m. when the "switchgear" tripped, prompting an automatic emergency system that cut off the power around the islands.
The flames from the blast were extinguished through another automated safety response system and no one was injured. However, the Civil Protection Department was quick on site just in case.
One hour after the explosion, electricity started coming back in various areas and by 11.30 a.m. all power was restored.
In the afternoon, the output's stability was being "verified" because the procedure to switch the electricity back on placed a lot of stress on the system.
Reacting to Mr Tranter's comments, the General Workers' Union accused him of prejudicing the ongoing inquiries by implying sabotage by the employees.
It said it was "disgusted" by his comments because they did not take into consideration the fact that the power station was old and subject to malfunction.
Enemalta denied its chairman had referred to anyone, let alone its employees, and it was only the union that had involved them.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Infrastructure, Technology and Communications, while insisting that sabotage was never suggested, reiterated Mr Tranter's statement: "On two preceding occasions, similar power cuts were experienced when the financial estimates of Enemalta were scheduled to be debated and voted on in Parliament."
The most recent case happened in June, when Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had ex-pressed "surprise" at a series of coincidences surrounding a similar blackout. But Investments Minister Austin Gatt had said he was sure the cause was not sabotage.
Today, over 100 streets will experience power cuts as maintenance works get under way.
Major outages in the past
June 23, 2000: A switchgear exploded at the Marsa power station, tripping the other in Delimara.
January 12, 2002: A faulty transformer tripped at the Delimara power station when the spare one in Marsa was undergoing maintenance.
July 24, 2002: The summer heat caused a transformer at the Marsa power station to trip, in turn, tripping the other power station in Delimara.
June 30, 2003: An increase in demand, because of the summer heat, caused faults along the distribution system.
June 7, 2004: A surge diverter and an overload shedding switch failed at the Marsa power station.
February 14, 2006: A boiler malfunctioned at the Marsa power station.
July 7, 2006: The distribution system experienced multiple faults.
May 15, 2007: A cable broke at the Marsa power station.
June 18, 2007: A boiler malfunctioned at the Marsa power station.
August 23, 2007: Two gas turbines tripped at the Delimara power station.
June 7, 2009: A turbine tripped at the Marsa power station, igniting a safety mechanism that shut down the whole plant.