A monkey caused a nationwide power outage in Sri Lanka on Sunday after it entered an electrical grid substation.
Government officials reported that the power failure, which began around 11:30 am (0600 GMT), had not been fully restored after three hours.
Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody explained that the monkey came into contact with a grid transformer, resulting in an imbalance in the system. The incident occurred in a southern Colombo suburb.
While power was restored in some areas, it was unclear when the outage would be completely resolved. “Engineers are working to restore service as quickly as possible,” the minister said.
This incident comes after Sri Lankans faced months of power outages during the summer of 2022, following the country’s economic crisis.
Fuel shortages led to the depletion of petrol and diesel, forcing thermal power stations to limit electricity supply to just 13 hours a day.
