In brief
Sri Lanka has been plunged into darkness after a significant power cut impacted the entire nation, attributed to an emergency incident at a sub-station.
Sri Lanka is currently facing a nationwide power cut that began around 11:30 AM local time (06:00 GMT), affecting hospitals and necessitating the use of generators across the island. The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) acknowledged the outage was due to a critical issue at a sub-station, with efforts underway to restore power. Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody humorously noted that a "monkey" was to blame, claiming the animal made contact with a grid transformer which triggered the outage. He assured that engineers are working diligently to resolve the problem promptly. The CEB expressed commitment to restoring electricity, emphasizing their urgency in addressing the island-wide failure. As the situation unfolds, hospitals and businesses in the nation of 22 million are relying on backup power solutions, illustrating ongoing challenges since the economic crisis that led to widespread blackouts last year.
