Patient dies after thieves steal phone line

PARIS: Two hundred residents of a French village had their phones cut off after thieves stole 270 metres of copper cabling in the latest such robbery as criminals try to cash in on soaring metal prices.

The theft in the southern village of Saint-Julien- le-Montagnier meant an 86-year-old woman, who was feeling ill, was unable to contact her doctor who lived in the village.

In the end her neighbours realised she was in difficulty and called an ambulance but she died before it arrived.

A France Telecom official said the cables were stolen in the early hours of Thursday from telephone posts around the village.

Copper theft has become increasingly common in France and earlier this month two eastern villages were deprived of their phones after thieves took more than a tonne of copper cables.

Train traffic in the southwest was also disrupted after criminals stole cablings used for rail signals.