CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A massive power outage has left roughly half of Venezuela without electricity.

Power Minister Luis Motta Dominguez says the blackout started Monday evening with an explosion at a power station in the northern state of Carabobo. It left at least 11 of Venezuela's 23 states in the dark.

Motta Dominguez said late Monday that power was back on in Carabobo and crews were working to restore it elsewhere.

However, residents in several other parts of Venezuela tweeted Tuesday morning that they remained without power.

Oil-rich Venezuela was once among Latin America's most developed countries. Today, it is in the grips of a historic crisis with shortages of food and medicine after two decades of socialist rule.