Nationwide power outage in Sri Lanka blamed on a monkey | World News

A monkey has been blamed for causing a nationwide blackout in Sri Lanka.

The island nation’s 22 million residents were mostly left without power during the outage, which began around 11am local time (5.30am GMT) on Sunday.

The country’s energy minister, Kumara Jayakody, told reporters that the blackout was caused when a monkey came into contact with a grid transformer near the island’s executive and judicial capital, Colombo.

“A monkey has come in contact with our grid transformer, causing an imbalance in the system,” Mr Jayakody said following the blackout.

“Engineers are attending to it to try and restore the service as soon as possible,” he added.

Power was returned to some areas within hours, but many households were without electricity until late on Sunday.

Sri Lanka has suffered issues with its electrical system before. In 2022 it experienced widespread blackouts and electricity rationing during an economic crisis.

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“Only in Sri Lanka can a group of monkeys fighting inside a power station cause an islandwide power outage,” Jamila Husain, editor-in-chief of local newspaper the Daily Mirror, wrote on X.

The paper said engineers had been warning consecutive governments to upgrade the system or face frequent blackouts “for years”.

“The national power grid is in such a weakened state that frequent islandwide power outages may be expected if there is a disturbance even in one of our lines,” a source told the outlet.