Monkey disrupts Sri Lanka’s power grid, triggering island-wide blackout

An intruding monkey at a Sri Lankan electrical grid sub-station caused a general island-wide blackout today, government officials said.

The power outage, which began around 11.30 am, had yet to be fully restored after three hours.

“A monkey has come in contact with our grid transformer causing an imbalance in the system,” Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody told reporters.

The intrusion took place in a south Colombo suburb, he said.