A mischievous monkey has plunged Sri Lanka into a nationwide power outage, leaving hospitals and businesses scrambling for backup generators.
The incident, which occurred on February 9, 2025, at approximately 11:30 am local time (06:00 GMT), was triggered when the primate made contact with a grid transformer at a substation in a southern suburb of Colombo.
Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody confirmed the unusual cause, stating, “A monkey has come in contact with our grid transformer causing an imbalance in the system”.While power has been restored to some areas, the full extent of the outage remains unclear.
Engineers are working to restore service as quickly as possible.
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is making every effort to rectify the island-wide power failure promptly.This incident brings back memories of the summer of 2022, when Sri Lanka faced prolonged electricity blackouts amidst a severe economic crisis.
Fuel shortages at the time forced thermal power plants to ration electricity to just 13 hours daily.
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