Getty ImagesThousands of people in Orkney and Shetland have experienced disruption to their internet and phone services because of damage to a subsea cable.
Shetland Telecom said the Shefa-2 cable between Orkney and Banff sustained damage at about 03:00.
The switchboard at Balfour Hospital in Kirkwall is currently down, with patients asked to call a mobile number instead.
The cable, which links Orkney, Shetland and the Faroe Islands to mainland Scotland, was last damaged three years ago in an incident thought to have been because of a fishing vessel.
The BBC understands emergency calls have not been impacted.
A timescale for repairs will depend on a number of conditions including wind strength and direction.
Openreach, which supplies broadband in Orkney, apologised to those who had been affected.
A spokesperson said: “Customers can still make landline calls, and whilst we’re constantly assessing customer impact, we believe up to 10,000 customers in Faroe, Shetland and Orkney islands could have disruption to their broadband services.
“We’re working on repairs as soon as we can and will update further once we can confirm our specific work and timeline. Anyone experiencing any issues should report it to their service provider for further investigation as usual.”
Communications in Shetland were severely disrupted in October 2022 when the south subsea cable between the islands and the mainland was cut.
Police declared a major incident with landlines and mobiles unusable.
At the time, BBC News heard reports that many shops were unable to take card payments.
The scale of the current incident is still being investigated.