Emergency 911 calls had to be re-routed through the hospital Friday night as phone service went down to most of the East End.

Bermuda Telephone Company (BTC) emergency teams worked throughout the weekend to restore service after the major power interruption, which began around 8 p.m. Friday night.

A BTC statement said a circuit breaker switch malfunctioned creating an interruption to service originating from the main Hamilton exchange. The malfunction caused service outages in the surrounding Hamilton area and to the east, including Pembroke, Devonshire, Smith?s, St. George?s and Hamilton parish.

The network was impacted, resulting in downed landlines, DSL and some cellphone service. Service was intermittent until around midnight, including calls to 911. Those calls were temporarily diverted to the hospital, where emergency services stood by.

Telephone and transmission service to the Washington Mall and a few other offices in Hamilton was also impacted. Those business that are still without service are asked to contact 611.

Yesterday, BTC stated: ?BTC apologises for any inconvenience this service interruption may have caused and would like to thank the public for their understanding and patience.