Big blackout in Bangladesh, 13 crore people affected

Big blackout in Bangladesh, 13 crore people affected

A grid station failure in Bangladesh has plunged most of the country into darkness and blackouts have affected 130 million people.

 At least 130 million people in Bangladesh were without power on Tuesday afternoon after a grid failure caused a widespread blackout, the government's power utility company said.

 Due to the breakdown, Dhaka, the capital with a population of more than 22 million, has also been plunged into darkness.

Bangladesh has faced a major power crisis in recent months as a result of rising global energy prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and has imposed regular service cuts to conserve power.  have given

 But it's unclear what caused Tuesday's unscheduled blackout, which affected more than 80 percent of the country shortly after 2 p.m.

 Power Development Board spokesman Shamim Ahsan told a foreign news agency that the rest of the country is without electricity except for some places in the northwest of Bangladesh.

 Shamim Ahsan said 130 million or more people are without power and it is not clear what is causing the breakdown.

 It is still under investigation, he said, adding that the probable cause was a technical glitch.

 Junior Technology Minister Junaid Palak said on Facebook that efforts are being made to rectify the fault and power will be restored soon.

 It may be recalled that Bangladesh last experienced a major blackout in November 2014, in which 70 percent of the country lost power for about 10 hours.