‘Technical fault’ plunges country into darkness

LAHORE: A massive power failure late on Sunday and into Monday morning plunged the whole country into darkness.

A source in the Islamabad Electric Supply Company told Media that the national grid collapsed due to a “technical fault” in the Mangla and Tarbela powerhouses.According to PM’s spokesman, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has taken notice in this regard. IESCO chief told a private TV channel that the PM was being updated after every 30 minutes. Affected cities include Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Attock, Tando Muhammad Khan, Jhelum, Hyderabad, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Peshawar, Quetta, Jaffarabad, Sibbi, DG Khan, Rajanpur, Badin, Zhob, Larkana, Nawabshah, Shikarpur, Pannu Aqil, Tharparkar, Jamshoro, Umerkot and Layyah.

The National Grid spokesman said that the electricity would be restored in two to three hours.He also said the Power and Water Ministry officials have reached the grid station. Other officials said the 1,200-megawatt HUBCO power plant tripped, leading to the system failure across Pakistan. National Power Control Centre officials said they were trying to restore power. – Nation