Wandering monkey blamed for nationwide power outage in Sri Lanka

Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Officials in Sri Lanka said a monkey in the wrong place at the wrong time was to blame for a power blackout that affected the entire nation.

Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody told reporters at a news conference that the outage was caused by a monkey that came into contact with a grid transformer at the Panadura Power Station, located south of the capital, Colombo.

The outage began at 11 a.m. local time Sunday, and utility officials got to work restoring power, with hospitals and water purification facilities being given top priority.

The Ceylon Electricity Board issued an apology for the blackout on Sunday.

The blackout evoked memories of rolling blackouts that occurred during Sri Lanka's economic crisis in 2022.

Some senior engineers said they have been warning officials for years about the need for upgrades in the power infrastructure.

"These may be the immediate solutions but past governments have failed to act or upgrade the systems. In fact the national power grid is in such a weakened state that frequent island-wide power outages may be expected if there is a disturbance even in one of our lines," a source familiar with the country's utility system told Sri Lanka's Daily Mirror newspaper.