26.02.2025 10:40
A major power outage that occurred across Chile on Tuesday left millions of people in the dark. The outage affected a wide area from the north to the south of the country. The government stated that the outage was not the result of an attack or sabotage, but rather due to a system failure. Metro services were halted in Santiago, which has a population of approximately 8.4 million.
A major power outage that occurred across Chile on Tuesday left millions of people in the dark.
The outage, which happened in the afternoon, affected the South American country from the northern Arica and Parinacota region to the southern Los Lagos region. The country declared a state of emergency and a curfew for the areas affected by the power outage from 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM local time.
Chile's electricity grid operator announced that a fault occurred in the high-voltage line carrying electricity from the Atacama Desert to the capital Santiago.
The National Electricity Coordinator did not explain the actual cause of the fault that led to the shutdown of a large part of Chile's electricity grid.
The government stated that the cause of the power outage was not an attack or sabotage, but rather a system failure.
Authorities in Santiago, with a population of approximately 8.4 million, announced that there would be no metro service until further notice.
Interior Minister Carolina Toh said that hospitals, prisons, and government buildings had activated backup generators to keep essential equipment running.
At a press conference, Toh urged the public to remain calm and said that officials were racing to restore the grid and bring back electricity services across the country, which has a population of about 19 million.
"The fault in the 500-kilovolt main transmission line affects the entire electricity system of the country," she said.
Toh stated that if all regions did not return to normal by sunset, the government would take emergency measures to prevent a crisis.
Saesa, one of the country's main electricity distributors, confirmed that all of its customers were experiencing power outages.
Authorities reported that they were evacuating passengers from dark tunnels and metro stations in Santiago and other areas, including the tourist coastal town of Valparaiso.
Videos shared on social media from all over Chile showed the chaos at intersections due to non-functioning traffic lights.
People also had to use their cell phones as flashlights in the underground metro, and police were deployed to assist in the evacuation of office buildings.
Transport Minister Juan Carlos Muñoz warned people to stay at home, noting that only 27% of the city's traffic lights were operational.
Cell phone services were also disrupted in some regions of the country.
Officials at Santiago International Airport stated that the terminals had switched to emergency power to continue flights normally.
"They let us leave work due to the power outage, but now I don't know how we will get home since all the buses are full," said 45-year-old worker Maria Angelica Roman to AFP in Santiago.
"All operations at the bank where I work had to stop," said 25-year-old clerk Jonathan Macalupu.
A source who spoke to Reuters said that the world's largest copper mine, Escondida, was without electricity.
President Gabriel Boric flew over the capital by helicopter to assess the situation.
In 2010, damage at a power plant in southern Chile left hundreds of thousands of people in the dark for hours.
The outage occurred a month after a massive earthquake measuring 8.8 that caused the deaths of more than 500 people and shook the national electricity grid.