Sri Lanka plunged into darkness as nationwide power grid fails

The island nation's electrical grid collapsed, cutting power to the entire country and disrupting essential services across homes, hospitals, and commercial establishments. The outage persisted for more than 120 minutes, creating significant disruption during peak hours and raising fresh concerns about the stability of Sri Lanka's power infrastructure at a time when the country faces broader economic challenges.

Authorities provided no immediate clarity on the restoration timeline as repair teams worked to identify the cause of the failure and bring the grid back online. The blackout affected all regions simultaneously, underscoring the vulnerability of the centralised power system and its susceptibility to cascading failures.

This latest outage adds to mounting pressure on Sri Lanka's energy sector, which has struggled with capacity constraints and maintenance issues in recent periods. Power cuts have become increasingly common across the country, affecting productivity and quality of life for residents already grappling with economic headwinds.

Grid operators have not yet issued an official statement regarding the root cause of the collapse or measures to prevent similar incidents. The incident highlights the urgent need for infrastructure upgrades and improved system redundancy to ensure more reliable power supply to the nation.