Blackout hits Bangladesh

A massive nationwide power blackout hit Bangladesh on Saturday after a transmission line failed, leaving homes, businesses and shops in the densely-populated country without electricity.

Power was restored in some parts of the capital Dhaka after several hours, and authorities said they hoped to have electricity back on across the nation of 155 million by Saturday evening.

Local media said the problem stemmed from a technical problem at an electrical substation that was distributing power from India, but government officials would not confirm the reports.

Engineers “are working to fix the outage”, senior power ministry official Masud Alberuni told AFP, adding that all areas linked to the national electricity grid had been hit.