KARACHI: Major cities and towns across the country suffered total blackout after Mangla and Tarbela power houses tripped late on Sunday night, Aaj News reported.
Cities affected by the power outages included Karachi, Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Sukkur, Khairpur, Shikarpur, Mirpurkhas, Badin, Kashmore and Panno Aqil in Sindh, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Jhelum, Attock, Layyah, Rajanpur and Multan in Punjab, as many as 18 districts in Balochistan, including Quetta, Zhob, Jhal Magsi and Jaffarabad, as well as a large area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including Peshawar.
The channel quoted an official as saying that efforts were being made to rectify the power situation, adding that it might take "four to six hours" to overcome the crisis.
According to a KESC handout, Karachi plunged into total darkness at around 11pm on Sunday night because of the tripping of its Bin Qasim power plant, housing the company's main power units. A KESC spokesperson said that the power supply to the Sindh metropolis was affected by a tripping in the Jamshoro circuit of the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) and Wapda systems, adding that the power utility's top management was in contact with NTDC officials for resumption of power supply.
KESC said that its system tripped after a disturbance in the distribution system, caused by a "sudden disconnection of supply from the NTDC line". The KESC spokesperson said that the power company's team was "active to normalise the situation". Hubco power plant tripped because of a technical fault at 11:45pm on Sunday night, Secretary for Water and Power Rai Sikander said addressing an emergency press conference late in the night.
He said that because the entire national grid was interconnected, a cascading effect resulted in countrywide power system failure, including tripping at Mangla and Tarbela power houses.
Sikander said that power supply was restored to an area ranging between Peshawar and Kalashah Kaku near Lahore. He said that the prime minister and minister for water and power had taken stern notice and ordered an inquiry into the incident. He said that the press conference had been necessitated because of widespread rumours. However, he did not specify.