Power restored after Ecuador suffers nationwide blackout

Public Works Minister Roberto Luque confirmed that 95 percent of the country’s power had been restored on Wednesday after a national blackout earlier that day. An estimated 18 million citizens, according to Reuters, were left in the dark for as little as 20 minutes up to several hours, severely affecting hospitals and public transportation lines. Footage showed subway trains unexpectedly stalled at platforms and crowds of commuters demanding refunds. The outage comes days after weekend rains triggered a fatal landslide in central Ecuador that killed at least eight people and left at least 20 more injured.

What caused the outage? A failure in a transmission line caused a cascade disconnection, which generated a national blackout, Luque said. This blackout is a true reflection of the energy crisis Ecuador is experiencing, he added.

Dig deeper: Read Tobin Jacobson’s report in The Sift on Ecuador’s new president elected last October.