'It's just tragic': After days without internet, cell service, Southwestern residents feel endangered

Within minutes of losing cellphone and internet service, residents in a remote swath of Arizona were quick to come up with theories about why.

“I think it’s the government. I don’t trust them,” said one resident in the tiny town of Eagar, a four-hour drive northeast of Phoenix on the Arizona-New Mexico state line. 

Turns out, someone shot up exposed fiber cables, knocking out communications for up to 100,000 people in Navajo and Apache counties for more than 48 hours between June 11 and 13.

The dayslong outage reminded people in the area just how easily cut off from civilization they can be. It made many feel forgotten and vulnerable.