Ecuador in darkness “A general power outage of at least an hour at the national level due to successive faults and network outages,” the Minister of Energy announced, Roberto Luque.

The power outage surprised Ecuadorians, especially residents of the capital Keto and subway users, around 3.20pm local time (8.20pm in Italy). Power returned gradually, neighborhood by neighborhood, after an hour of blackouts, at least in Quito, a city with a population of about three million.

The subway remained paralyzed, requiring the evacuation of thousands of passengers. Municipal officers rushed to road intersections amid the chaos while traffic lights were out of order.

The same chaos was observed on the roads in the large coastal city GuayaquilOn the Pacific coast, according to an AFP correspondent, who reported that many people were stuck in broken elevators in large office and residential buildings. Also the tram in South City Cuenca stop working. The exact extent of the disorder is not yet known. In April, Ecuador suffered power outages lasting up to 13 hours due to a prolonged drought of defunct hydroelectric reservoirs and crumbling infrastructure, according to authorities. The power outages stopped in May when the rains returned.