O Google experienced a night of horror last Monday (8). First, at the search giant’s large data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, there was an “electrical incident” – probably an explosion – that left three people injured. In addition the site was down for a few minutes but is now back to normal. According to Google, the two incidents are unrelated.

According to Jim Wood, Assistant Fire Chief of Bluffs Council, the first responders were dispatched to the scene at 11:59 a.m. after a high-priority alert of an “electrical problem”. Initial local information pointed to a “big bang”, but Wood did not confirm the details.

All three victims were taken to the Nebraska Medical Center. Two people were taken away by an ambulance, one person with serious injuries was taken out by helicopter. All the patients were conscious and talking after the incident, Wood said.

The complex is one of the largest data centers of the company

The Google complex, located next to Lake Manawa State Park, is one of the company’s largest data centers. The centers host hundreds of high-tech supercomputers used to store and process vast amounts of information.

Updated 08/09 at 2:40 pm with Google’s position on what happened.

In contact with Connected World, Devon Smiley, a spokesman for Google, issued the following statement.

“We are aware of an electrical incident that occurred yesterday at Google’s data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa (USA), injuring three people on the spot who are being treated and are in stable condition. The health and safety of all employees is our top priority, and we are working closely with partners and local authorities to thoroughly understand the situation and provide the necessary assistance.“.

The note also comments on the services that were interrupted for several minutes, but with no connection between the two incidents.

“We are aware of a software update issue that briefly affected Google Search and Maps and we apologize for the inconvenience. We quickly resolved this issue and our services are back up and running.”

Google has 14 data centers in the US and 23 worldwide. Data processing centers”ensure that all Google products and services are available 24/7.“, according to the company. The Council Bluffs location site is one of the largest on Google. It was launched in 2009.

Source: KETV, SFGATE

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