Major power breakdown hits parts of country

ISLAMABAD: Several parts of the country, including Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, suffered a massive power breakdown on late Saturday night, ARY News reported.

Sources said that the power outage was reported in Islamabad’s Red Zone, Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Multan, Kasur and other cities.

Karachi’s 60 per cent area was without electricity as the K-Eclectic system collapsed after the Jamshoro transmission line tripped, said the sources.

Taking to the social networking website, Twitter, Energy Minister Omar Ayub Khan said that the frequency in the power distribution system suddenly dropped from 50 to 0 which caused the blackout.

بجلی کے ترسیلی نظام میں فریکوینسی اچانک 50سے 0 پر آنے کی وجہ سے ملک میں بجلی کا بلیک آؤٹ ہے

فریکونسی گرنے کی وجہ جاننے کی کوشش کی جارہی رہی ہے

اس وقت تربیلا کو چلانے کی کوشش ہو رہی ہے جس سے ترتیب وار بجلی کا نظام بحال کیا جائے گا

عوام سے تحمل کی اپیل ہے

— Omar Ayub Khan (@OmarAyubKhan) January 9, 2021

Urging the masses to exercise patience, the minister said that they were trying to ascertain the causes of the incident. He maintained that they were taking measures to activate Tarbela so as to restore the electricity.

Earlier, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Political Communication Dr Shahbaz Gill said that Energy Minister Omar Ayub Khan and his entire team were working to resolve the issue.

عمر ایوب وزیر برائے بجلی اور ان کی پوری ٹیم بجلی ٹرپ ہونے کے ایشو پر کام کر رہی ہے۔ میری ابھی ابھی ان سے بات ہوئی ہے انشاللہ جلد آپکو آپ ڈیٹ کرتے ہیں۔

— Dr. Shahbaz GiLL (@SHABAZGIL) January 9, 2021

A spokesperson of the National Power Control Center (NPCC) said that a technical fault in the system caused the major power breakdown in several parts of the country.

Meanwhile, Islamabad Deputy Commissioner said that the National Transmission Despatch Company’s (NTDC) system has tripped, causing outage. He maintained, “It will take sometime before everything gets back to normal.”

NTDC system tripped. It will take sometime before everything gets back to normal. #blackout #electricity

— Office of Deputy Commissioner Islamabad (@dcislamabad) January 9, 2021