An intruding monkey caused a nationwide blackout in Sri Lanka on Sunday after it entered an electrical grid sub-station, government officials revealed.
The power failure began at approximately 11:30 am (0600 GMT) and continued for over three hours, with electricity not fully restored at the time.
"One monkey has come into contact with our grid transformer, causing an imbalance in the system," Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody said.
The minister explained that the incident occurred in a suburban area of south Colombo. While power had been restored in certain regions, the full extent of the blackout and its duration remained uncertain.
"Engineers are attending to it to try and restore the service as soon as possible," Jayakody confirmed.
Sri Lanka had previously faced extensive power blackouts during the summer of 2022, when the country grappled with an economic crisis that led to shortages of fuel and electricity.
