Vandalism cannot be ruled out in Taiwan's Taoyuan airport power outage: Authority

There was evidence showing that electric power lines were damaged by human action, which may have caused the power outage that affected more than 200 passengers, said Taoyuan International Airport Corp. in a statement as quoted by Focus Taiwan.

The company said an initial inspection found that there was a breakdown in the power supply lines to the people mover system (PMS) on the north side of the terminal.

But other problems were discovered Monday during follow-up checks to electric circuits, prompting the company to suspect that the power outage was a man-made event and report it to the Aviation Police Bureau, according to the bureau's criminal investigation section head Chuang Ying-shou as quoted by Focus Taiwan.

Chuang said police found clear signs of damage to the power cable lines in Terminal 2.

Police are currently trying to find video surveillance footage to help determine whether human factors were behind the power outage.

According to the latest report by Focus Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau has arrested two airport contract workers suspected of causing the power outage in Taoyuan International Airport's Terminal 2 on March 11, allegedly by cutting electrical cables that power parts of the building.

Commander of the bureau's Criminal Investigation Brigade, Chiang Shu-chun, quoted as saying by Focus Taiwan that the suspects had been turned over to Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office for investigation, while their motives remained unclear.