SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) 鈥 A sweeping blackout hit Chile on Tuesday, stranding commuters, knocking out traffic lights, paralyzing countless businesses and leaving millions of people across the South American nation without power.
The 春色直播 Electrical Coordinator, Chile鈥檚 grid operator, said a disruption had occurred in a high-voltage transmission line that carries power from the Atacama Desert of northern Chile to the capital of Santiago in the country's central valley.
It did not say what actually caused the disruption that pushed much of the country鈥檚 power grid into shutdown, from the northernmost Chilean port of Arica to the southern Los Lagos agricultural region.
Chile鈥檚 national disaster response service, Senapred, reported that a 鈥渄isruption in the supply of electricity鈥 had provoked a 鈥渕assive power outage" across 14 of the country's 16 regions, including Santiago, a city of some 8.4 million people, where authorities said there would be no subway service until further notice.
Interior Minister Carolina Toh谩 said hospitals, prisons and government buildings were switching on backup generators to keep essential equipment operating.
In a press conference, Toh谩 urged the public to stay calm and said officials were racing to put the grid back in operation and restore electric service across the country of some 19 million people.
鈥淚t's affecting the entire electrical system of the country,鈥 she said of the breakdown in the 500-kV backbone transmission line.
Toh谩 said if all areas didn't return to normal by sunset the government would take emergency measures to avert a crisis.
One of the country's main electricity distributors, Saesa, which serves more than a million people across Chile, confirmed that all of its customers had experienced the power failure.
Officials said they were evacuating passengers from darkened tunnels and subway stations in Santiago and elsewhere in the country, including the coastal tourist hotspot of Valparaiso.
Videos on social media from all over Chile, a long ribbon of a country stretching 4,300 kilometers (over 2,600 miles) along the southern Pacific coast, showed chaos at intersections with no functioning traffic lights, people having to use their mobile phones as torches in the underground metro and police dispatched to help evacuate office buildings.
Transport Minister Juan Carlos Mu帽oz urged people to stay home, saying it鈥檚 鈥渘ot a good time to go out since we have a transport system that is not operating normally.鈥 At the very most, he said, just 27% of city traffic lights are working.
Mobile phone services also blinkered offline in parts of the country. Authorities at Santiago International Airport said terminals had switched to emergency power to keep flights operating as usual.
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Batschke reported from Sao Paulo.
