Blackout in Pakistan: Power failure was triggered by militants, says official

Karachi, Jan 25: The country-wide power breakdown that plunged Pakistan into darkness was triggered by militants who blew two transmission towers in the restive Balochistan province, a senior official today claimed.

Federal Secretary of Water and Power Younis Dagha said transmission towers linking the power hub in Sibi were blown up by militants.

"Two transmission towers supplying power between Sibi and Quetta were blown up on the night of January 24th near Sibi leading to a backward surge of power to the Guddu power plant in Sindh province which caused the power outage," he said.

The power failure plunged about 80 per cent country, including the capital Islamabad, into darkness, the fourth major breakdown of the system within the past one month.

Dagha claimed it was an act of terror which destabilized the national grid. The federal secretary said the situation has stabilised after over 7,500MW power was added to the national grid to offset the crisis.

He said reports of an attack were coming in from midnight but as there could be no verification from local authorities, the media was not informed earlier.

Officials said that last night's breakdown resulted in many urban areas like Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Quetta, Islamabad and Peshawar plunging into darkness with hundreds of villages and small towns in all four provinces also affected.

PTI