155m left without power in Bangladesh after transmission line failure
Fault 'on line from India' triggers cascading shutdowns across energy-hungry Bangladesh
A massive nationwide power blackout hit Bangladesh yesterday after a transmission line failed, leaving homes, businesses and shops in the densely populated country without electricity.
Power was restored in some parts of the capital, Dhaka, after several hours, and authorities said they hoped to have electricity back on across the nation of 155 million by last night.
Local media said the problem stemmed from a technical problem at an electrical substation that was distributing power from India, but government officials would not confirm the reports.
Engineers "are working to fix the outage", senior power ministry official Masud Alberuni said, adding all areas linked to the national electricity grid were hit.
The national grid "tripped" close to mid-day, Alberuni said. "All the power-generating stations in the country automatically shut down in a cascading effect," he added.
The outage marked the first time the whole country has been without power since a devastating cyclone November 2007.
The blackout hit at the weekend, lessening the impact on industry. Temperatures have also passed their summer peak, limiting complaints over the stoppage of fans and air conditioning units.