Nationwide Blackout Stuns Ecuador Amid Ongoing Energy Crisis

A major blackout hit Ecuador on Wednesday due to a failure in an energy transmission line, compounding the nation's ongoing electricity crisis. Efforts are underway to restore service. The most affected regions experienced outages lasting over 20 minutes. The crisis has been exacerbated by drought conditions.

A failure in an energy transmission line on Wednesday led to an unexpected nationwide blackout in Ecuador, according to government reports. This incident comes just days after authorities announced power outages due to production woes.

Ecuador's Minister of Energy, Roberto Luque, revealed on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the failure reported by the National Electricity Operator caused a 'cascade disconnection,' leaving the entire country without power.

Efforts are currently being made to resolve the issue and repair the faulty power lines as quickly as possible.

Some areas experienced outages lasting around 20 minutes, but media reports and social media users indicated that the problem persisted in many cities.

Emilia Cevallos, a waitress in Quito, recounted her surprise at the blackout. 'We thought it was only in this sector, but when we left we realised that while some stores had connected generators, the majority did not have electricity,' she said, adding that traffic lights were also affected. The Quito municipality noted on X that traffic agents were deployed to manage traffic flow. The city's subway system, operated by Quito Metro, was also suspended due to the electrical failure.

Since last year, Ecuador has been grappling with an electricity generation crisis causing widespread rationing. In April, President Daniel Noboa's government began rationing electricity in major cities as the El Niño-induced drought depleted reservoirs, limiting hydroelectric power production, which accounts for about 75% of the nation's electricity.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)