A single monkey has caused an electrical nationwide blackout in Sri Lanka, leading to widespread disruption of services throughout the island nation of 22 million people.
The incident left homes and businesses without power. Hospitals and water purification plants relied on generators. Temperatures soared above 30°C, making the lack of air conditioning unbearable.
However, engineers are working frantically to restore power prioritizing essential services like hospitals first. Some areas regained electricity quickly. Others remained in darkness overnight.
Monkey Blamed For Power Grid Collapse
The Sri Lankan Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody identified the cause of the outage.
“A monkey has come in contact with our grid transformer, causing an imbalance in the system,” he reported.
The Ceylon Electricity Board confirmed an “emergency” at a substation near Colombo. This substation is south of the capital. Local media reported engineers had warned previous governments about the risk of blackouts. They cited the ageing and vulnerable power grid.
An anonymous engineer told a Sri Lankan newspaper, “The national power grid is in such a weakened state that frequent island-wide power outages may be expected if there is a disturbance in one of our lines.”
The blackout began around 11 am local time on Sunday, February 9. Residents went online to pour their anger and frustrations at their government and the country’s deteriorating infrastructure.
X user Mario Nawfal commented, “A rogue monkey knocked out Sri Lanka’s entire power grid after triggering a total failure at a substation in Colombo. One monkey = total chaos. Time to rethink infrastructure?”
Authorities warned of further power cuts in the coming days. The initial outage caused a breakdown at the Norochcholai coal power plant. This plant is a key part of Sri Lanka’s energy infrastructure and is still under repairs as at the time of this report.
Power outages are still a common feature of life in Sri Lanka.
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