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Trailer drags cable, causes power outage
Commonwealth Utilities Corp. crewmembers fix the power line along Chalan Pale Arnold in Tanapag yesterday afternoon. A tractor-trailer with a 40-footer container of Best Sunshine accidentally dragged a Docomo cable wire, causing a telephone pole to fall and triggering a power outage in the area. (Ferdie de la Torre)
A tractor-trailer with a 40-foot container of Best Sunshine accidentally dragged a Docomo Pacific cable wire along Chalan Pale Arnold Road and toppled a telephone pole yesterday afternoon, triggering a power outage in Tanapag.
The dangling wire blocked the entire four-lane highway in front of the Pacific Marina Commercial Center. No one was reported injured in the accident that happened at about 4pm, Saipan Tribune learned from witnesses.
When Saipan Tribune left the scene at 5pm, a Commonwealth Utilities Corp. bucket truck had just started to fix the affected power line.
Witnesses said the tractor-trailer was traveling south when the container’s top snagged the Docomo cable, dragging it and causing the telephone pole to fall. As a result, a CUC hypertension wire was cut, triggering a power outage in the area.
The driver stopped the trailer just near the toppled pole. A second trailer with a container stopped a few meters away from the dangling cable.
A Department of Public Works employee said the trailer with the container that caused the accident is about 14 and a half feet tall.
It’s not clear whether the cable was too low or the container was just too high.
Police re-routed traffic to the Tanapag area.
Police and CUC are still investigating the accident.
A DPW staff said a vehicular accident near the area also caused a power outage last Wednesday night.
