Elderly Woman Disconnects Armenia from the Internet

Last week a 75-year-old woman from Georgia single-handedly disconnected Armenia from the Internet for about five hours on March 28.

Hayastan Shakarian, who claims she has never even heard of the Internet, was scavenging for copper in the Georgian village Ksani when her shovel broke an important fiber optic cable owned by Georgian Railway Telecom. The cable services the three major providers in the region.

“I cannot understand how this lady managed to find and damage the cable…it has robust protection and such incidents are extremely rare” a spokesman for Georgian Railway Telecom said to the AFP, a global news organization. The spokesman did not point out, however, that a similar incident occurred only two years ago.

Despite claims of innocence, the woman has confessed to cutting the cable, according to the Georgian Interior Ministry. She could face up to three years in prison for damaging property.

According to her son Sergo Shakarian, she is rather distraught about the incident.