Massive power outage hits parts of Latin America

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Buenos Aires - Large parts of Latin America were hit by a massive power outage early on Sunday, according to energy companies and local media reports. Uruguayan energy company UTE said a malfunction at 7:06 (1006 GMT) in the Argentinian network had left the entire country without service. Argentinian energy company Edesur confirmed on Twitter that all of Argentina and Uruguay had been affected by the outage. South of Buenos Aires on the Argentinian coast it was cold at the time of the outage, one witness named Sara told dpa. Traffic lights were not working, and it was also not possible to refuel cars. "It's very strange, it's never been this big,", the woman said.

Parts of Brazil and Chile were also affected, Argentinian newspaper La Nacion reported, while outages in Paraguay were flagged by the BBC.

UTE later said service had been restored in parts of coastal cities and work was continuing for a full restoration.

The outage came as Argentina is suffering from a severe economic crisis.

Argentina's Ministry of Energy announced that the authorities were investigating the exact cause of the failure. The ministry said restoration of power had already begun in certain areas but that it would take hours for electricity to be fully restored.

Water supply in Argentina was also impacted by the outage, with local supplier Aguas Santafesinas urging people to restrict their use of drinking water to when absolutely essential.

Underground rail transport in the Argentinian capital was also brought to a standstill and Buenos Aires Metro Metrovias said all six of its lines were without service.

Locals in Uruguay and Argentina took to social media using the hashtag #SinLuz (no lights) to discuss the outage.

dpa