The government of Chile declared a state of exception due to catastrophe and a curfew after a massive blackout left millions of people without electricity in 14 of the 16 regions of the country for several hours. The Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, announced the measure in a press conference, informing that the power outage had been ongoing from Arica to Los Lagos.
The blackout affected a large part of the 19 million inhabitants of the country, paralyzing essential services like the metro and causing chaos in various cities from north to south. Five hours after the failure, at least seven million people were still without electricity, according to the latest official report.
Although the government has not disclosed the causes of the outage or the estimated time for service restoration, the National Electric Coordinator mentioned that the problem originated from a disconnection in the transmission system.
