Latest news with #Sounion
Economic Times
03-08-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
As attacks by Houthi rebels rise, cable operators in Red Sea of trouble
AP This photo released by the European Union's Operation Aspides shows fires burning aboard the oil tanker Sounion in the Red Sea on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024. Escalating tensions in the Red Sea — increasingly seen as an internet kill switch, particularly for India, as most major cable networks are wired through this corridor — are pushing cable owners to make multiple backup arrangements to avoid a complete blackout. Cable operators are building redundancies, buying double the number of fibre pairs and, in some cases, even planning to lay cables along sovereign land routes, which are inflating costs for data centres and cloud providers, industry executives told ET . As per estimates, leasing a pair of high-capacity subsea fibre on global corridors like Europe–Asia costs anywhere between $30,000–$50,000 per month. The issue is critical to India as the country's digital backbone is tightly wired through the Red Sea corridor, which brings major cables like Google's Blue-Raman, Bharti Airtel's 2Africa and Sea-Me-We 6, and Reliance Jio's India-Europe-Express to Mumbai and Chennai shores. Yemen's Houthi rebels have drowned two commercial cargo ships in the past month. They are known to weaponise subsea cables, having used them as leverage for regional conflicts and funding their activities in the past. Insurance costs to protect cables in such a hostile region have gone up manifold. In fact, submarine vessels for repair and maintenance of the cables are being threatened to pay ransom to enter the region, sources said. Google, Jio, and Airtel did not respond to ET 's queries till press time Wednesday. 'There is a persistent risk we monitor closely, especially as the conflict in that part of the geography intensifies,' said Amajit Gupta, Group CEO and Managing Director of Lightstorm, a network infrastructure company that owns and operates 21,000 kilometres of subsea cables spanning varied regions. 'Our reliance on the cable system is precarious, as an additional outage poses a significant challenge to its repairability.' He noted that several cable operators such as Ooredoo and Zain are planning to take the sovereign land routes for laying cables as opposed to the sea. 'The maritime jurisdiction is confined to territorial control within close proximity and extends to the international waters, which resemble a frontier region where various elements can engender instability,' Gupta explained. 'Consequently, the prevailing consensus among cable operators is to opt for the terrestrial route via sovereign states.' AS Lakshminarayanan, Managing Director of Tata Communications, said submarine cable cuts happen continuously. 'But the problem at the Red Sea was that the time taken to repair and the ships to go there took longer,' he said. The industry also faces a dearth of ships available for repairs even as the government is debating whether the country should have its own fleet of ships, Lakshminarayanan said. Tata Communications is among India's oldest investors and owners of subsea cables. In early 2023, four key submarine cables — Seacom, EIG, AAE-1, and TGNEA — were affected near the Bab el-Mandeb strait, a narrow but strategic choke point connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The cable cuts, attributed to regional conflict and anchor damage, slowed internet speeds across parts of Africa, West Asia, and South Asia. Reliance Jio, Tata Communications, and Bharti Airtel are investors in these cables. Carl Grivner, CEO of global subsea cable operator FLAG, said the company is building partnerships and establishing multiple alternative routes across the Gulf region. One such initiative is the Gulf European Transit Route, also known as the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor. This is one of the first multimodal pathways that combines undersea fibre with overland infrastructure, effectively bypassing the Red Sea channel.
Washington Post
26-06-2025
- Climate
- Washington Post
Wildfire prompts evacuations near Athens as summer's first heat wave hits Greece
ATHENS, Greece — A large wildfire broke out south of Athens on Thursday, triggering authorities to issue evacuation orders and shut down parts of the coastal road linking the Greek capital to Sounion, location of the ancient Temple of Poseidon, a major tourist attraction. The fire came as temperatures approached 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in Greece's first heatwave of the summer.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Communities evacuated amid wildfire near Athens as heatwave hits Greece
A large wildfire has broken out south of Athens, prompting authorities to send phone alerts urging the evacuation of five communities near the blaze as temperatures approached 40C in Greece's first heatwave of the summer. About two dozen water-dropping planes and helicopters were providing air support to 130 firefighters battling the blaze in the Palaia Fokaia seaside area south of Athens, the fire department said. The fire, which reportedly broke out within a populated area, was fanned by strong winds, sending plumes of smoke fanning out across the sky. Television footage showed at least one home burning. Local mayor Dimitris Loukas said on Greece's state-run ERT television that several houses were believed to have been damaged by the blaze, but added that exact information on property destruction was not immediately available. The coastguard said two patrol boats and nine private vessels were on standby in the Palaia Fokaia area in case an evacuation by sea became necessary, while a lifeboat was also on its way. 'We're telling people to leave their homes,' local town councillor Apostolos Papadakis said on ERT. Parts of the coastal road connecting Athens to Sounion, location of the ancient temple of Poseidon and a major tourist attraction, were closed, with people urged to take other routes to evacuate the area. Fire department spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said 40 people had been evacuated by police, while evacuation orders were issued for a total of five areas. The entire wider Athens area, as well as several Aegean islands, were on level four of a five-level scale for the danger of wildfires due to the weather conditions, with the heatwave expected to last until the weekend. Earlier in the week, hundreds of firefighters took four days to bring a major wildfire under control on the eastern Aegean island of Chios. More than a dozen evacuation orders had been issued for Chios, where the flames devoured forest and farmland. The fire department said one woman had been arrested on suspicion of having contributed to that fire's start — reportedly by discarding a cigarette. Wildfires are frequent in Greece during its hot, dry summers. In 2018, a massive fire swept through the seaside town of Mati, east of Athens, trapping people in their homes and on roads as they tried to flee. More than 100 died, including some who drowned trying to swim away from the flames.
Al Arabiya
26-06-2025
- Climate
- Al Arabiya
Wildfire Prompts Evacuations Near Athens as Summer's First Heat Wave Hits Greece
A large wildfire broke out Thursday south of Athens, prompting authorities to send phone alerts urging the evacuation of five communities near the blaze as temperatures approached 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in Greece's first heat wave of the summer. About two dozen water-dropping planes and helicopters were providing air support to 130 firefighters battling the blaze in the Palaia Fokaia seaside area south of Athens, the fire department said. The fire, which reportedly broke out within a populated area, was fanned by strong winds, sending plumes of smoke fanning out across the sky. Television footage showed at least one home burning. Local mayor Dimitris Loukas said on Greece's state-run ERT television that several houses were believed to have been damaged by the blaze, but added that exact information on property destruction was not immediately available. The coast guard said two patrol boats and nine private vessels were on standby in the Palaia Fokaia area in case an evacuation by sea became necessary, while a lifeboat was also on its way. 'We're telling people to leave their homes,' local town councilor Apostolos Papadakis said on Greece's state-run ERT television. Parts of the coastal road connecting Athens to Sounion–location of the ancient temple of Poseidon and a major tourist attraction–were closed, with people urged to take alternate routes to evacuate the area. Fire department spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said 40 people had been evacuated by police, while evacuation orders were issued for a total of five areas. The entire wider Athens area, as well as several Aegean islands, were on Level 4 of a 5-level scale for the danger of wildfires due to the weather conditions, with the heat wave expected to last until the weekend. Earlier in the week, hundreds of firefighters took four days to bring a major wildfire under control on the eastern Aegean island of Chios. More than a dozen evacuation orders had been issued for Chios, where the flames devoured forest and farmland. The fire department said one woman had been arrested on suspicion of having contributed to that fire's start–reportedly by discarding a cigarette. Wildfires are frequent in Greece during its hot, dry summers. In 2018, a massive fire swept through the seaside town of Mati, east of Athens, trapping people in their homes and on roads as they tried to flee. More than 100 died, including some who drowned trying to swim away from the flames.
The Independent
26-06-2025
- Climate
- The Independent
Wildfire prompts evacuations near Athens as summer's first heat wave hits Greece
A large wildfire broke out Thursday south of Athens, prompting authorities to send phone alerts urging the evacuation of five communities near the blaze as temperatures approached 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in Greece's first heat wave of the summer. About two dozen water-dropping planes and helicopters were providing air support to 130 firefighters battling the blaze in the Palaia Fokaia seaside area south of Athens, the fire department said. The fire, which reportedly broke out within a populated area, was fanned by strong winds, sending plumes of smoke fanning out across the sky. Television footage showed at least one home burning. Local mayor Dimitris Loukas said on Greece's state-run ERT television that several houses were believed to have been damaged by the blaze, but added that exact information on property destruction was not immediately available. The coast guard said two patrol boats and nine private vessels were on standby in the Palaia Fokaia area in case an evacuation by sea became necessary, while a lifeboat was also on its way. 'We're telling people to leave their homes,' local town councilor Apostolos Papadakis said on Greece's state-run ERT television. Parts of the coastal road connecting Athens to Sounion, location of the ancient temple of Poseidon and a major tourist attraction, were closed, with people urged to take alternate routes to evacuate the area. Fire department spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said 40 people had been evacuated by police, while evacuation orders were issued for a total of five areas. The entire wider Athens area, as well as several Aegean islands, were on Level 4 of a 5-level scale for the danger of wildfires due to the weather conditions, with the heat wave expected to last until the weekend. Earlier in the week, hundreds of firefighters took four days to bring a major wildfire under control on the eastern Aegean island of Chios. More than a dozen evacuation orders had been issued for Chios, where the flames devoured forest and farmland. The fire department said one woman had been arrested on suspicion of having contributed to that fire's start — reportedly by discarding a cigarette. Wildfires are frequent in Greece during its hot, dry summers. In 2018, a massive fire swept through the seaside town of Mati, east of Athens, trapping people in their homes and on roads as they tried to flee. More than 100 died, including some who drowned trying to swim away from the flames.
