Google Gmail users have trouble accessing accounts

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Google Inc said on Monday that many users of its Gmail service are having trouble accessing their online e-mail accounts due to a temporary outage in a contacts system used by Gmail.

The problems began at about 5 p.m. EDT and a company spokesman said Google is starting to implement a fix for the problem right now.

"We are starting to roll out a fix now and hope to have the problem resolved as quickly as possible," said a Google spokesman.

Google said an outage in the contacts system used by Gmail is preventing the e-mail system from loading properly. The company also said that the new incoming messages are safe even if a user can not access their account.

Users across the United States, Canada and India reported problems with Gmail and a Google employee also reported that the company's own corporate e-mail account was down.

(Reporting by Daisuke Wakabayashi; editing by Carol Bishopric)