DHAKA, Bangladesh, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- The entire nation of Bangladesh was without power Saturday after the national grid collapsed due to a transmission line failure, power officials said.

The country was plunged into darkness Saturday morning and as of evening hours, the process to restore power was still under way.


"It will take time," State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid said.

State power company officials said there was a problem in the power line that brings electricity from India to Bangladesh.

"We are now moving slowly and have cut Dhaka's power supply," Hamid said. "We are restoring power in areas outside Dhaka. We can't afford another failure now."

The outage drove up the price of candles and gas stations saw long lines as residents sought fuel for power generators.