26.02.2025 19:40
A state of emergency has been declared in Chile due to a major power outage, and a curfew has been imposed. The outage, which affected 8 million homes, has also halted operations in the mines.
Chile was plunged into darkness due to a power outage. The government declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew.
The power outage, which affected 14 out of Chile's 16 regions, brought life to a standstill. Chile's Interior Minister Carolina Toha announced that the power outage was caused by a transmission line failure in the northern part of the country.
CURFEW IMPOSED
The Chilean government, which declared a state of emergency, imposed a curfew from 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM local time, from the northern city of Arica to the southern Los Lagos due to the power outage. The streets of the capital Santiago were also plunged into darkness due to the power outage. Passengers were evacuated from trains that had stopped during the journey, and the Santiago metro was shut down. The Interior Ministry deployed armed forces to the areas where outages occurred to ensure security.
AFFECTED 8 MILLION HOMES
The Chilean National Electricity Coordinator (CEN) announced that a quarter of the affected line had been reactivated and that electricity was expected to be restored during the day. Chilean President Gabriel Boric stated that 8 million homes were affected by the outage, but electricity had been restored to about half of the homes. Boric said, "What happened today is very bad. It is unacceptable for one or a few companies to affect the daily lives of millions of Chileans, and therefore the state needs to hold them accountable."
COPPER MINES AFFECTED
Operations in Chile's mines, the world's largest copper producer, came to a halt due to the power outage. In some mines, operations continued with generators. It was reported that the disruption in mining activities negatively affected global markets.