Tenerife suffers massive power cut leaving 1 million people in the dark

The tram service stalled, traffic lights stopped, air-conditioning units packed up and dozens of people had to be rescued after being trapped in elevators when a power outage at the Granadilla substation left the entire island without electricity.

Emergency services reported receiving 688 calls during the afternoon on Sunday and dispatched firefighter teams to rescue 60 people who were trapped in elevators when the power stopped.

There was one report of a car accident after two vehicles collided when the traffic lights stopped working but only one person suffered light injuries.

Security alarms were activated with the power cut and many restaurants and bars were forced to close during the afternoon and into the evening.

The incident happened at just after 1pm on Sunday for reasons that have not yet been made clear by Unelco Endesa and Red Eléctrica, the electricity firms that run the network.

Patricia Hernandez, the mayor of Tenerife's capital, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, told Cadena SER that authorities were investigating the cause of the outage.

Generators kicked in providing emergency power to hospitals and airports until workers were able to restore the island’s power some nine hours after it went down.