The eastern half of the island of Cuba was left without electricity supply for several hours on Monday, allegedly due to a fire, in an incident that once again highlights the fragility of a system that periodically causes blackouts.
The Cuban Electrical Union (UNE) confirmed a cut at around 13.00 (local time) in the line that connects Santi Spíritus and Vicente, which caused a blackout that extended from the province of Ciego de Avila to the eastern end of the island. According to the Ministry of Energy, «the cause of the disconnection was a fire in a sugar cane field in the area».
From the beginning, the public company estimated that the reconnection process would be delayed between four and five hours, and finally the technical director of UNE, Lázaro Guerra Hernández, confirmed to the official newspaper ‘Granma’ that the recovery of the network arrived at 18:50.
However, it was not until 23.00 (local time) when the service was completely restored throughout the country.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
