Chile's Massive Power Outage Causes Traffic Chaos and State of Emergency Declared | WPN World People News

On the afternoon of the 25th, Chile experienced an unexpected widespread power outage, affecting 14 of the country's 16 regions, including the capital, Santiago. The government immediately declared a state of emergency, and curfews were imposed in most areas. Chile's Interior Minister, Carolina Toha, stated that the outage was caused by a fault in the northern transmission and distribution lines, and ruled out the possibility of a cyber attack.

The power failure led to a complete disruption of internet and mobile phone services, and water supply was also affected. Medical facilities, prisons, and government departments were forced to rely on emergency generators to maintain basic operations. As the world's largest copper producer, Chile's mining industry was heavily impacted, with disruptions spanning from the northern mining regions to the central and southern areas where most of the country's population resides. Operations at major copper mines were also affected.

Juan Carlos Olmedo, president of Chile's National Electrical Coordinator, stated that the interruption of a high-voltage transmission line, which carries electricity from the north to the capital in the center, led to power overloads and factory shutdowns, eventually causing the large-scale blackout that impacted 90% of the population.