Northern Ireland Electricity has condemned vandals who broke into a high voltage substation in Enniskillen.

The vandals interfered with essential electricity equipment, leaving it in a hazardous condition.

Roy Coulter, NIE Safety and Risk Manager said these actions could easily have resulted in a fatality. "I am amazed the vandals walked away from this incident. The metal security fence surrounding the substation was forced apart and the vandals then damaged live electricity equipment. This type of interference to one of NIE's key substations in the Fermanagh area is totally unacceptable. The perpetrators not only put themselves in grave danger, they left the equipment in a hazardous condition, which could have injured or killed NIE engineers responding to a fault on the network. In addition, many thousands of customers in the local area could have been left without power."

These actions he said were irresponsible and served no purpose other than to incur unnecessary costs.

"I would appeal to the community to report any one found wilfully damaging our equipment to either NIE or the local PSNI. Electricity substations are not playgrounds and no one should ever attempt to enter. NIE has taken many steps to strengthen such facilities to prevent unauthorised entry but they are always susceptible to repeated and determined attempts to force entry.

"I would ask all members of the local community to be extra vigilant and to report anything suspicious to NIE on 08457 643 643."