Second total blackout in under two weeks

A power outage hit vast areas of Malta yesterday afternoon, the second such blackout in under two weeks and the fourth in less than a year.

Enemalta said last night that preliminary investigations by its technical staff indicated that the fault occurred during switching operations at Delimara power station. Investigations were ongoing, it said.

The electricity supply was interrupted at about 7.35 p.m. as Good Friday processions were midway along the route. Soon after, the police were called in to assist the Armed Forces of Malta as immigrants at Safi Barracks started to "panic" due to the power cut. It subsequently resulted that a group of about 60 "agitated" migrants were locked in a room and were trying to ram a door open. It was feared that if the door was opened they could escape.

However, the situation calmed down when power was restored in the area at about 8.45 p.m.

Power started being restored soon after 8 p.m. and the situation had returned to normal in at least half of the affected areas.

From preliminary investigations carried out by its technical staff, it appeared that the fault occurred during switching operations at Delimara Power Station, Enemalta said. Power was restored to around 85 per cent of the island by about 11.30 p.m.

A nation-wide blackout on March 22 was attributed to a fault in a boiler at the Marsa power station. Similar widespread power cuts had occurred in November and June last year.