Thousands of customers lost power Wednesday morning when vandals cut down a pair of hydro poles, officials say.
In what BC Hydro called "an extremely dangerous act of vandalism," someone downed poles located along the railway tracks in Gates Park in Port Coquitlam, B.C. at around 4:30 a.m.
A third pole was cut but remained in place, held up by wires.
In addition to bringing down the overhead power lines, an underground line that came out at the base of one of the poles was also cut.
The bizarre act left more than 4,500 customers without power, and some were in the dark for nearly four hours.
The poles each held three high-voltage lines, BC Hydro said in a statement the next day.
"This could have seriously injured or killed a member of the public or our crews as they worked to make repairs," the service provider said.
Fortunately, crews were able to make the area safe, then replaced the poles and reconnected the line, turning the power back on by 8 a.m.
The motivation for the "reckless behaviour" is unclear, BC Hydro said. The RCMP has been called to investigate.
