Chilean authorities say they have restored power to most homes in the country by Wednesday morning Danish time, AFP news agency reports. The announcement comes just hours after massive power outages that have caused chaos in several places in the South American country.
The power outages forced President Gabriel Boric to declare a state of emergency and a curfew in large parts of the country. Chile's worst power outage in more than a decade occurred on Tuesday afternoon, leaving millions without power. Gabriel Boric blames private companies that manage the electricity grid for the system's breakdown.
- This is scandalous! Millions of Chileans' daily lives must not be affected in this way by companies that are not doing their job, Boric said in a statement issued by his office.
On Wednesday morning, around 90 percent of of the affected households have power back, according to one of the operators, according to AFP.
Millions affected
The power outage has stretched from Arica in the north to Los Lagos in the south of the long South American country. According to the Chilean media La Tercera, more than 19 million Chileans have been without electricity for more than five hours. That is over 90 percent. of Chile's total population.
The power outages affected transport in the Chilean capital, Santiago, where thousands were evacuated from the metro and had to be crammed into overcrowded buses. Traffic lights had also gone out in several places in the country. Many shops have been closed, and employees have been sent home early at workplaces.
According to AFP, Chile's Interior Minister, Carolina Toha, rules out sabotage as the cause of the power outages.
- There is no reason to assume that this is an attack, she said on Tuesday.
According to the minister, it is "probably a fault in the operation of the system".
/ritzau/
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