Striking workers cut power across all of French territory Guadeloupe

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France's overseas territory of Guadeloupe was entirely without power on Friday, with authorities blaming striking workers for the outage.

Workers at the territory's thermal power station in the industrial zone of Jarry entered the command room "and caused an emergency shutdown of all the engines", the Guadeloupe prefecture said in a statement.

Restored electricity supply for the 230,000 affected households was expected at 3.00 PM (1900 GMT) at best.

Police intervened and the archipelago's prefect had "requisitioned" staff to bring the station back up to speed, it said.

The French government has mobilised "services and operators" to bring power back as soon as possible, said Energy Minister Olga Givernet.

A labour dispute over pay has pitted the energy branch of the hard-left CGT union against the EDF utility since September 15.

Power outages have affected daily life in Jarry, the economic powerhouse of the French territory of close to 380,000 inhabitants, over the past week.

Some businesses have closed, an AFP correpondent said, and emergency services suffered.

Leon Prosper Jimmy, an ambulance driver in Pointe-a-Pitre, said that taking charge of patients in apartment buildings had become difficult because of non-functioning lifts.

"We have to carry them," he said, saying he often called the fire brigade or other services for backup. "We manage as best we can," said the 41-year old.

The CHUG hospital centre said it had activated backup power generators which would keep "critical operations" going for 72 hours.

In a supermarket near the capital, inhabitants were stacking up with bottled water as the territory's water supply began to be affected.

Many store shelves were empty as supplies were disrupted.

Guadeloupe looks after its own electricity needs, having no interconnection agreements with other countries.

Its power production is 70 percent thermal, stemming from burning fuel oil or wood pellets.

(AFP)

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