Bangladesh blackout hits 130 million people

At least 130 million people in Bangladesh were left without power on Tuesday after a grid failure caused widespread blackouts, the government’s power utility company said.

Bangladesh has suffered a major power crisis in recent months as a result of higher global energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and has imposed regular cuts to conserve electricity.

But it remained unclear what caused Tuesday’s unscheduled blackout, which hit more than 80 percent of the country shortly after 2:00 pm (0800 GMT), according to the Power Development Board.

Apart from some locations in Bangladesh’s northwest, “the rest of the country is without power”, spokesman Shamim Ahsan told AFP.