Central America suffers massive power outage

A major power outage hit Central America on Monday that left Nicaragua and Honduras without power for just over an hour, according to Nicaragua's state-owned National Electricity Transmission Company (ENATREL).

The organization said "technical failures" were to blame.

Electricity operator EOR in El Salvador gave a little more information via a statement. "There was an emergency in the Central American Electrical System due to a failure in the 230 kilowatt supply line in Honduras."

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The blackout, which also partially affected El Salvador and Guatemala, occurred at 11:55am local time (5:55pm GMT), and continued until 1:10pm (7:10pm), when ENATREL crews solved the fault, which affected "much of the country," according to information from the Nicaraguan Government.

"We are giving priority to hospitals, health centers, which are being affected by problems in the interconnection with Honduras," ENATREL chief executive Salvador Mansell announced in a brief statement, via government media.

Mansell, who did not specify where the fault originated, said that in some places people were without power for 30 minutes, although in others the service had not been restored for up to an hour and a half.

In Honduras, Energy Minister Roberto Ordóñez reported that the first outage occurred in Pavana, in the southern province of Choluteca.

The blackout left the inhabitants of the 15 provinces and two autonomous regions of Nicaragua without power and internet access.

Residents in southern Guatemala reported a blackout via social media at the same time as the fault in Nicaragua and Honduras.

jsi/aw (EFE, dpa)

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