Power outage across Bangladesh as national grid collapses

Power outages Saturday hit several places in Bangladesh, including the capital Dhaka, due to the collapse of the national grid.

Reports of power cuts were coming in from several other places including Narayanganj, Rangpur, Sirajganj and Sylhet Saturday.

Power and Energy Minister Nasrul Hamid told bdnews24.com: "The national grid has collapsed. We are working on it. Power is back in some places already. It might take an hour (to restore power supply)."

West Zone Power Grid Company's executive engineer in Comilla, Arifur Rahman, said the blackout occurred around 11.30 a.m. Saturday due to a glitch in the national grid at Bheramara Upazila's Sholodagh.

Meanwhile, the entire Rajshahi division is experiencing a power cut.

Power Development Board's (PDB) Rajshahi Division Chief Engineer A.M. Masud Faroque said: "The power transmission line connecting Bangladesh and India has snapped causing power outage across the country. Repair works are going on."

Chittagong PDB Senior Public Relations Assistant Director Md. Moniruzzaman said production at the power plants in Chittagong has stopped after the national grid failure.

"The local power plants are operating but since there is no way to store electricity the plants have been shut down," he added.

Meanwhile, production at the nine units of the Ashuganj Power Plant, the second largest in the country, has also stopped due to the national grid collapse.