Government describes Santo Domingo airport blackout as vandalism
The authorities in charge of aviation and national airports revealed that the light system power cut that occurred on May 23rd at the Las Américas International Airport (AILA) was an act of “vandalism”.
The Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation (IDAC), the Airport Department (DA), the Specialized Corps in Airport Security and Civil Aviation (Cesac), and Dominican Airports Siglo XXI (Aerodom), indicated that the cutting of the cables resulted in the interruption of the lighting service on the runway.
The power shutdown was “intentional and planned”, and affected the electrical cables of the circuit that feeds the lighting system of the airport’s runway.
In that sense, they said that the Dominican aviation system immediately activated a protocol to reestablish airport operations.
On the other hand, they indicated that they are investigating to determine the intellectual and material actors of the event. ”
The event is under investigation by the competent authorities, who are working to determine the intellectual and material authors of this serious event, who will be brought to justice in due course so that they receive the full weight of the law,” says the joint statement.
Read more: Las Américas International Airport suffers runway lighting system failure
In addition, they reported that all airport operations are currently operating normally and that the affected passengers were treated on time by the airlines. Those who could not do so on Sunday night due to the power outage are also being transferred.
The issue was detected around 7:10 pm.
Due to the impossibility of landing in Santo Domingo, a flight that came from San Juan chose to return to Puerto Rico, another that left Madrid landed in Punta Cana and a previous one from Saint Kitts y Neves did so in La Romana.
Operations
The agency responsible for airport security explained that operations were normalized after the placement of emergency lights authorized by the IDAC.
They pointed out that the fire in the cable system caused damage that triggered the system and with it a blackout of the lights.