Argentina investigates major power cut

Argentina investigates major power cut

A man stands at a train station in Buenos Aires during a national blackout

An investigation is underway to shed light on why Argentina suffered a nationwide electricity blackout which also affected Uruguay and Paraguay. James Blears reports about when the lights went out.

By James Blears

Argentina was also holding State Governors` Elections, but from 7am onwards until early evening Argentina was hit almost nationwide, by a massive electricity blackout.  The only unaffected State was Tierra Del Fuego right down south, which is not connected to the national power grid.  Uruguay which shares the grid was also out, and Paraguay was partially affected.  Argentina`s President Mauricio Macri called the across the board outage an unprecedented failure of the power grid.  Yet experts are  so far counting out a cyber attack or sabotage, explaining it could take them up to two weeks to discover exactly what happened, what sparked it and why. The origin of the problem has been traced to a location near a dam in the North East of Argentina.

So... millions of people, experienced the inconvenience, which was short lived but considerable.  Public transportation at a standstill, shops shut, cellphones eerily lighting up polling booth in the early morning chill, and hospitals relying on emergency generators. Many wonder if it could happen again...any time soon?

www.vaticannews.va/en