Power was gradually being restored to major cities across Pakistan yesterday after it was hit by a massive electricity blackout, officials said. The electricity distribution system in the nation of more than 210 million people is a complex and delicate web, and a problem in one section of the grid can lead to cascading breakdowns countrywide. The latest blackout was caused by "an engineering fault" in southern Pakistan at 11:41 pm local time on Saturday, which tripped the system and caused power plants to shut down, power minister Omar Ayub Khan told a press conference in Islamabad. This was Pakistan's second major power breakdown in less than three years.

Source: AFP