- Title: ITALY: CHAOTIC SCENES AT AIRPORT IN ROME AS RESULT OF POWER CUT
- Date: 28th September 2003
- Summary: (U3) ROME, ITALY (SEPTEMBER 28, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV FIREMEN AND RESCUE WORKERS IN FRONT OF TRAIN STATION; SLV TRAINS ON PLATFORMS; SLV PEOPLE WAITING INSIDE STATION; MV PEOPLE TALKING WITH TRAIN DRIVER; LOUDSPEAKER ANNOUNCING THAT NO TRAINS ARE OPERATIN (8 SHOTS)G 0.48 (W4) MILAN, ITALY (SEPTEMBER 28, 2003) (REUTERS) 2. SLV MILAN CENTRAL RAILWAY STATION; SLV PASSENGERS AND TRAVELLERS WAITING FOR TRAINS; MV TRAIN TIMETABLE REPORTING DELAYS; SLV EMPTY TRACKS (4 SHOTS) 1.07 (W4) ROME, ITALY (SEPTEMBER 28, 2003) (REUTERS) FOR DETAILED SHOTLIST 3 - 8 SEE PROD 13875/03: 3. TRUCK PULLING ELECTRICAL TRAM ALONG TRACKS 4. CIVIL PROTECTION OFFICERS 5. OFFICERS STOPPING TRAFFIC ALLOWING PEDESTRIANS TO CROSS ROAD 6. RESTAURANT WITH NO POWER SERVING COLD FOOD 7. (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) RESTAURANT OWNER MAURIZIO ZANNI SAYING "Some of the traffic lights are back on but we still don't have power." 8. VARIOUS OF SOME TRAFFIC LIGHTS WORKING 2.28 (W5) ROME, ITALY (SEPTEMBER 28, 2003) (REUTERS) 9. SLV QUEUES OF PEOPLE WAITING AT CHECK-IN DESKS (3 SHOTS) 2.41 10. . (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH TOURIST PAUL SAYING "We're hoping to get a flight in an hour, if we can get to the check desk. If we don't catch that flight in an hour we won't be going anywhere until tomorrow." 2.52 11. SLV QUEUES OF PEOPLE; MV PEOPLE LOOKING AT FLIGHT INFORMATION BOARD (3 SHOTS) 3.06 12. (SOUNDBITE) (English) CANADIAN TOURISTS VINCENT AND ANNA MIFSET SAYING "It's chaos, total chaos.' 'Our flight is two hours delayed already we've been moved around from three or four check outs and we're still waiting. We are patient." 3.26 13. MV QUEUES OF PEOPLE; MV PEOPLE SITTING ON TROLLEYS 3.42 14. (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) WOMAN GIUSEPPINA SAYING "We're all exhausted can you see what a nightmare it is. Now we're not going to arrive in New York until nine or ten at night. We've waited three hours." 3.58 15. SLV PEOPLE SITTING AND WAITING; MV PEOPLE WALKING WITH LUGGAGE (3 SHOTS) 4.13 16. (SOUNDBITE) (English) AUSTRALIAN WOMAN JANE SAYING "There was a blackout in Rome and we couldn't get to the airport so we waited to find a different way. We couldn't get on the train or on the bus and we had to pay someone in a car to bring us out here to try and catch our plane back to Australia." 4.34 17. SLV LONG QUEUES 4.59 18. (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) UNIDENTIFIED NUN SAYING "There was a blackout but we haven't had problems." 5.06 19. SLV PEOPLE SITTING DOWN; MV PEOPLE ASKING FOR INFORMATION; SLV PEOPLE WAITING 5.18 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 13th October 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ROME AND MILAN, ITALY
- Country: Italy
- Reuters ID: LVA8AE6CLKMD7ZLFX9Y16I3079SD
- Story Text: There are chaotic scens at the airport in Rome as a
result of a power cut in a large part of Italy.
A nation-wide power cut and heavy rain brought an
early close to Rome's first all-night street party early on
Sunday morning (September 28).
From the city centre to the suburb scores of shops,
tourist sites, and museums were set to stay open until
daybreak, accompanied by a string of special events around
the Eternal City - but the blackout put a sharp end to the
all night party.
The national grid authority said the blackout was
caused by a malfunction of incoming electricity lines from
abroad.
But the huge party got off to a start earlier in the
evening, with Rome's Mayor Walter Veltroni saying that some
1 million people had turned out for the event.
The evening was modelled on the French nuit blanche in
Paris held for the first time last year, with people
flocking to some of the city's best known monuments, suc
as the Trevi Fountain.
Travellers at Rome's Fiumicino airport seemed to be
bearing the brunt of Italy's power outage on Sunday as over
80 percent of flights are expected to be delayed.
Queues of travellers waited for hours at Rome's
Fiumicino airport. Many check-in desks were not functional
and electrical security equipment was not working causing
massive delays.
"We're hoping to get a flight in an hour, if we can get
to the check desk," said Paul a British tourist trying to
get to London. "If we don't catch that flight in an hour
we won't be going anywhere until tomorrow."
Some people found their flights had left without them
whilst they were caught in the queues trying to get their
departure gate.
"It's chaos, total chaos," said Canadian tourist Anna
Mifset trying to get to Toronto.
"Our flight is two hours delayed already we've been
moved around from three or four check outs and we're still
waiting," added her husband Vincent.
Other passengers described their nightmare journey from
the centre of Rome with no trains working and taxis hard to
come by only to find chaos waiting for them at the airport.
"There was a blackout in Rome and we couldn't get to
the airport so we waited to find a different way. We
couldn't get on the train or on the bus and we had to pay
someone in a car to bring us out here to try and catch our
plane back to Australia," said Jane, an Australian
passenger.
The power cut, which left trains stranded nationwide,
is the latest to hit a European country.
About five million consumers in eastern Denmark and
southern Sweden were left in the dark last Wednesday after
the worst blackout there in 20 years.
That followed last month's huge outage that left 50
million North Americans without power for up to two days
and a shutdown which paralysed London for several hours.
Italy suffered several power outages over the summer as
temperatures soared.
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