Print

Mail

wiki links

Alpine storms knock out TV images of semi-final

The finale to Germany's 3-2 win over Turkey in the European Championship semi-final was a thriller, but very few fans outside the ground in Switzerland saw it, either in victorious Germany or gloomy Turkey.

A violent thunderstorm swept across Austria and knocked out power at the International Broadcast Center in Vienna, from where television images of the match were beamed around the world.

With the match delicately poised at 1-1 in the second half at St. Jakob Park in the Swiss city of Basel, screens around the world flickered and went blank. Internet coverage was also hit by the blackout.

As the thunderstorm raged over Vienna, the images came and went several times in the closing minutes.

In between the blackouts, Miroslav Klose gave Germany a 2-1 lead in the 79th minute off a cross from Philipp Lahm. But screens were blank when Semih Senturk pulled off what looked like another Turkey escape act with an 86th-minute equalizer, beating goalkeeper Jens Lehmann at the near post.

Images returned in time for viewers to watch Lahm eliminate Turkey with a goal in the last minute of regulation time.

The only broadcasters whose signal escaped the interruption were Swiss public TV company SRG in Zurich and al-Jazeera, said UEFA, which couldn’t immediately explain why those feeds were unaffected by the Vienna broadcast center blackout.
This story has been viewed 627 times.