A Chinese fisherman has been sentenced to seven years of jail for snapping undersea fibre-optic cables that affected one lakh users and cost the nation USD 384,000 to restore it.
The fisherman, identified only by his surname Yang, was sentenced by a court in China's island province of Hainan, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
While fishing, Yang found his vessel was trapped as his fishing net became entangled with the undersea cables in January last year, Meilan District People's Court in the provincial capital of Haikou said in its verdict.
While attempting to retrieve his fishing net, he realised that the cables were too heavy to pull loose, compelling him to cut the cables.
As a result, the broadband network services to one lakh users were suspended for over 4,300 minutes (nearly three days) and retrieval and repair of the cables cost the cable company, China Telecom Hainan branch, 2.68 million yuan (about USD 384,000).
The court, which pronounced the judgment in mid-December, also ordered Yang to compensate the company for the cost, the report said.
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