Ecuador sees nationwide power outage as electrical grid fails

Ecuador suffered a nationwide blackout for several hours Wednesday as the electrical grid failed, with metro services, road traffic and other critical services crippled.

Issued on: 20/06/2024 - 00:55
2 min

By: NEWS WIRES

The blackout hit abruptly just after 3:00 pm local time, surprising subway riders in the capital Quito as trains came to a halt and hundreds of people were evacuated.

Some were forced to walk long distances through dark metro tunnels until finding an exit.

Three hours after the stoppage hit, Energy Minister Roberto Luque said on X that 95 percent of the service had been restored nationwide.

Earlier, he had announced a "breakdown in the transmission line, which caused a chain of disconnections" leading to a countrywide failure.

[...]