Four Central Asian countries hit by simultaneous blackout
Power is being restored gradually, but authorities in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are still investigating what triggered the outage.
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan experienced a simultaneous power outage on Friday (14/8), disrupting electricity supplies in several cities and regions across Central Asia. Reuters reported the four countries are linked through a single regional power system. Kazakhstan's Energy Ministry said the disruption was triggered by a sudden change in electricity flow from the Central Asia grid, which activated the emergency control system. Supplies on lines owned by operator KEGOC were said to have been restored, while connections to customers were being made gradually. In Uzbekistan, the disruption affected Surxondaryo, among other areas, and power had not fully returned in parts of the region. Tajikistan declared an emergency on its energy system and formed an interagency working group to find the cause of the incident.