Islamabad (Web Desk): Restoration efforts are underway to restore the power supply after almost all cities and towns across Pakistan plunged into darkness late Saturday night.
Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, Energy Minister Omar Ayub said the power breakdown occurred when the frequency in the National Power Distribution System (NTDC) suddenly fell from 50 to zero, adding that power supply was expected to be completely restored soon.
Ayub said that investigations were ongoing to ascertain the cause of the breakdown at Guddu power plant that had plunged the country into darkness.
“According to initial reports, the Guddu power plant developed a fault at 11:41pm on Saturday night,” said spokesperson for the Ministry of Energy from official Twitter handle.
“The fault caused the country’s high transmission lines to trip, which in turn caused the system frequency to drop from 50 to 0 in less than a second,” he said and added that the drop in frequency caused power plants to shut down.
The blackout was reported a little before midnight by citizens on social media from across the country, including Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore and Multan, as well as smaller towns and cities.