Zambia says power outage caused by fault in interconnected network with Zimbabwe

LUSAKA, Zambia

Zambia said Monday that a 30-minute nationwide power outage over the weekend was due to a technical fault in the interconnected power networks between it and Zimbabwe.

A similar occurrence was experienced in the neighboring state, a senior government official told reporters in the capital Lusaka.

Peter Mumba, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Energy, said state power utility Zesco worked diligently to resolve the outage, which occurred Sunday evening.

"During the power outage, there were two mines that had people trapped underground. These mines included a Chinese mine in Chambishi and Mopani Mine at Mindolo shaft. The people who were trapped were all safely rescued as the mines were supplied with an alternative power supply," said Mumba.

Thabo Kawana, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information and Media, said during the same engagement that no loss of life occurred in hospitals as a result of the outage, with institutions such as the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, the country's largest referral health facility, having power restored within 30 minutes and equally equipped with a backup source.

Zesco acting managing director Justin Loongo said the Southern African Power Pool was investigating the source of the outage.