Colombo: A monkey on Sunday caused a nationwide blackout in Sri Lanka, leaving millions without electricity for hours in an unprecedented incident. The creature entered a grid transformer in South Colombo, causing power outages across the country and shedding light on loopholes in energy infrastructure.
Sri Lanka’s Energy Minister Kumar Jayakody said in a Facebook post that the monkey touched the transformer and created an imbalance in the system. The incident resulted in a nationwide blackout, which was only restored after three hours. Power supply was restored in most of the country by 11:30 a.m.
Meanwhile, Minister Jayakody said the engineers worked overtime to restore the power supply to the other affected areas. He said while one monkey was responsible, its effects were profound enough that the grid was crippled.
Of course, Sri Lanka is not the first country to experience a crisis like this. During an economic crisis in 2022, the country endured lengthy power cuts, with citizens enduring up to 13 hours of blackouts each day. This sparked nationwide demonstrations that weakened markets and left the country dealing with shortages of essential items like food and fuel.
This latest incident has raised fresh questions over the safety of Sri Lanka’s power grid. The monkey allegedly broke in through a window, and even though this seems to be a freak accident, it shows the lack of maintenance/physical protection against such interference.
Incidents of this sort further underline why resilient energy systems are critical as Sri Lanka emerges from its economic troubles. At least for now, the country is back on the grid, but the story of the monkey power cut may be fueled for days on end.