QUITO (AFP) – Ecuador suffered a nationwide blackout for several hours on Wednesday as the electrical grid failed, with metro services, road traffic and other critical services crippled.
The blackout hit abruptly just after 3pm local time, surprising subway riders in the capital Quito as trains came to a halt and hundreds of people were evacuated.
Some were forced to walk long distances through dark metro tunnels until finding an exit.
Three hours after the stoppage hit, Energy Minister Roberto Luque said on X that 95 per cent of the service had been restored nationwide.
Earlier, he had announced a “breakdown in the transmission line, which caused a chain of disconnections” leading to a countrywide failure.
Traffic lights in Quito went on the blink and police manned intersections to maintain some semblance of order in the city of three million people.
Within about an hour, power started returning gradually in some places in the capital.
