A massive power outage has reported from several cities across Pakistan.
The cities facing disruption include Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi.
Within Karachi, outages reported from Korangi, Defence, Garden, Clifton, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, MA Jinnah Road, II Chundrigar Road, Liaquatabad, and FB Area.
Even the Jinnah International Airport remained without power.
The blackout reported on social media by residents of major urban centres such as Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Multan, as well as other towns and cities across the country.
‘NTDC lines have tripped’
A few minutes into the breakdown, Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat said that the National Transmission Despatch Company’s lines have tripped, causing massive power outage.
“It will take sometime before everything gets back to normal,” he added.
Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat also said the blackout caused by the National Transmission & Despatch Company (NTDC) system tripping.
“It will take sometime before everything gets back to normal,” he wrote.
According to Federal Energy Minister Omar Ayub, the blackout caused after the frequency in the national power distribution system suddenly fell from 50 to zero.
He said the reason for the frequency dropping investigated, adding that attempts made to fire up the Tarbela power station which will lead to a sequential restoration of power supply.
“People are urged to remain patient,” the minister wrote.
Ayub said all technical teams had reached their respective stations, adding that he was personally supervising the restoration work as the federal power minister.
He said citizens would kept updated on the restoration efforts periodically.
Federal Information Minister Shibli Faraz also said that the breakdown had caused by a “technical fault” in the NTDC system. “System is being restored,” he tweeted.
Within minutes of the breakdown, the term #blackout became a top trend on Twitter in Pakistan with more than 12,000 tweets.
‘Power ministry working to resolve issue’
The prime minister’s aide on political communication Shahbaz Gill said that he has spoken to Minister for Power Omar Ayub and “his entire team is working to resolve the issue”.
“We will update you soon, InshaAllah,” he said.
More to follow...
