traffic". The New York Times reported that the damage occurred to the two systems separately near Alexandria and near Marseilles. Egypt knew of "no passing ships" near Alexandria which has restricted waters. One day later, on 1 February 2008, the FALCON cable was also reported cut off Dubai. The first of two repair ships was in place by 5 February. December 2008 On 19 December 2008, internet services were widely disrupted in the Middle East, and in the Indian subcontinent, following damage to the SEA-ME-WE 4, SEA-ME-WE 3, and FLAG FEA cables in the Mediterranean Sea. It is not known what has caused these multiple breaks, however, there was seismic activity in the Malta area shortly before the breaks were identified, although it is thought that the damage may be due to a ship's anchor or trawler net. According to FEA Cable System of Reliance Globalcom, the failure lay between Alexandria and Palermo. Reliance Globalcom completed the repair on the FLAG EUROPE ASIA (FEA) cable on 29 December 2008, at 14:15 GMT. Customer services that were affected due to the cable cut have been restored back normal with the completion of repairs. August 2009 Damage to FNAL caused by Typhoon Morakot was reported as affecting internet traffic to China on 18 August 2009. January 2020 On 9 January 2020, Yemen’s FALCON connection was cut, causing an 80% drop in that nation’s capacity. Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Ethiopia all felt major effects from the same cut, and to a lesser extent Comoros and Tanzania. GCHQ interception In 2014, it was revealed that Skewjack was the location of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) interception point on the Reliance Communications international fibre link, copying data to GCHQ Bude, as part of GCHQ's Mastering the Internet project. See also Reach North Asia Loop (RNAL), cable network developed jointly by Reach and FLAG Telecom List of international submarine communications cables Other cable systems following a substantially similar route to FLAG Europe-Asia (FEA) are: Europe-India Gateway (EIG) I-ME-WE SEA-ME-WE 3 SEA-ME-WE 4 References External links FlagTelecom.com — official FLAG website Submarine communications cables in the Indian Ocean Submarine communications cables in the Pacific Ocean Submarine communications cables in the Red Sea Submarine communications cables in the Arabian Sea Reliance Group Submarine communications cables in the Mediterranean Sea Submarine communications cables in the North Atlantic Ocean Telecommunications in India 1997 establishments in Maharashtra 2006 establishments in Maharashtra