ISLAMABAD (AP) – A major technical flaw in Pakistan’s power generation and distribution system caused a massive power outage that sent the country into darkness overnight, the Energy Minister said.
Hours after Saturday’s late power outage, Energy Minister Omar Ayub said on Twitter that power is being restored in stages, starting with Islamabad. He later said on Sunday that power had been restored to much of the country.
The blackout was initially reported on social media by residents of major urban centers including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Multan. The minister and his spokesman then took to Twitter to update the country.
Ayub urged people to be patient. He said the cause of the power outage is under investigation and work is underway to set fire to Pakistan’s main Tarbela power plant in the northwest, which would lead to a phased restoration of power in the rest of the country.
Ayub said at a press conference on Sunday that the Guddu power plant in southern province of Sindh developed a fault at 11:41 p.m. that caused the shutdown of other power plants within seconds.
Later, Zafar Yab, spokesperson for the Ministry of Energy, said the Tarbela and Warsak factories, both in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, were back online and that power to the transmission system was being restored.
However, Yab said it would take time to restore power in all parts of the country.
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Associated Press writer Asim Tanveer in Multan, Pakistan contributed to this report.
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