On Wednesday, the electrical system collapsed in Ecuador, causing a statewide blackout that lasted for several hours and severely disrupted road traffic, metro services, and other vital services.
Just after 3:00 pm local time, there was an unexpected blackout that shocked Quito’s subway users. Trains stopped, and hundreds of people had to be evacuated.
Some had to travel great miles on foot via dimly lit metro tunnels in search of a way out.
Energy Minister Roberto Luque declared on X that 95% of the service had been restored nationally three hours after the shutdown occurred.
Earlier, he had announced a “breakdown in the transmission line, which caused a chain of disconnections” leading to a countrywide failure.
Traffic lights in Quito went on the blink and police manned intersections to maintain some semblance of order in the city of three million people.
Within about an hour, power started returning gradually in some places in the capital.
“The incident must have been major because it even knocked out power to the metro, which has its own separate system,” Quito Mayor Pabel Munoz said on X.
He had ordered the deployment of special teams to help anyone who may be trapped, prevent accidents and “take care of public spaces.”
Luque said: “For years there has been a lack of investment in these systems and electrical grids and today we are suffering the consequences.”
