The State - News from Oct. 14, 1988

Almost 50,000 Sprint telephone circuits were knocked out for several hours after contractors cut a phone cable in Southern California, a company spokeswoman said in Burlingame. Renee Dunn said the accident between Redlands and Beaumont involved a major site for routing calls. It was impossible to determine the exact number of customers affected, or their specific locations, she said. She said the contractors were laying mileage markers for a gas pipeline for the Southern Pacific Pipeline when they cut the cable buried about 6 feet underground.