Monkey Causes Nationwide Blackout in Sri Lanka, Exposing Grid Vulnerabilities

The outage, triggered by a monkey at a power station, left 22 million people without electricity and highlighted the fragility of the country's energy infrastructure.

A monkey caused a nationwide blackout in Sri Lanka on Sunday after coming into contact with a grid transformer at the Panadura Power Station near Colombo.
The blackout lasted several hours, with critical facilities like hospitals and water purification plants prioritized for power restoration.
The incident underscores long-standing concerns about Sri Lanka's outdated and fragile power grid, which experts warn is highly susceptible to disruptions.
Authorities announced scheduled 90-minute power cuts on Monday and Tuesday due to a breakdown at the Norochcholai coal power plant caused by the outage.
The incident has sparked public criticism and calls for urgent modernization of the grid, with many questioning how a single event could lead to such widespread disruption.