Major power breakdown hits Pakistan after grid failure

Pakistan has suffered a massive country-wide power outage following a breakdown in its national electricity grid on Monday morning. Power was out in all major cities, including Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar. However, the government has insisted that this is "not a major crisis" and power would be back soon. The  Ministry of Energy confirmed that according to initial reports, the system frequency of the national grid went down at 7:34am today, causing a widespread breakdown in the power system across Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has taken “serious notice” of the country-wide power breakdown.In a statement issued on Monday afternoon, it directed the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) to submit a detailed report on the electricity blackout. “There was a fluctuation in voltage and the systems were shut down one by one. This is not a major crisis,” minister Dastagir told Geo TV. In Lahore, the metro services in one of the lines have been suspended. In Islamabad, as many as 117 grid stations are without electricity. Peshawar has also been hit by a power outage. According to Quetta Electric Supply Company, 22 districts of Balochistan, including Quetta, are without power.