A power cut that affected various localities on Tuesday was the result of a tube leak in boiler number eight at the Marsa power station, Enemalta said.

It said the boiler, together with a 60MV steam turbine, were shut down as a result. This in turn meant that something like a 40MW load had to be shed from the system while the other turbines in service at the time took up additional load.

Overall demand on both power stations at the time of the incident totalled 305MW, the corporation said.

The areas affected included parts of Birkirkara, Mriehel, Qormi, Zebbug, Msida, San Gwann, Ta' Giorni, Pembroke, Madliena, St Andrews, St. Julians, Swieqi and Sliema.

Enemalta said steps were taken immediately to run other generators and to restore supply to the affected areas.