The holiday island of La Palma has suffered its second massive power outage in just over a month. Around 50,000 people were left without electricity after a blackout around 5.30pm blamed on a turbine shutdown at Los Guinchos power station.

The Canary Islands government activated an emergency Civil Protection plan, although there are no reports so far of any casualties as a result of the new power failure. Another serious power outage on La Palma on May 8 left nearly 20,000 people without electricity, with new problems occurring four days later. 

Island president Sergio Rodriguez reacted to the latest failure by describing La Palma as an island “which is not in the first world” and demanding measures from Madrid and the region’s government.

He said: “The power station we’ve got is obsolete and slows down our development.”

Reports around 8.30pm said electricity had been re-established to around 30% of the customers affected by this afternoon’s outage.

Island president Sergio Rodriguez reacted to the latest failure by describing La Palma as an island “which is not in the first world” and demanding measures from Madrid and the region’s government.

He said: “The power station we’ve got is obsolete and slows down our development.”

Reports around 8.30pm said electricity had been re-established to around 30% of the customers affected by this afternoon’s outage.