A nationwide blackout rolled across Chile on Tuesday, brought down transportation, shutting up businesses, and leaving millions of people without electricity in one of the worst energy crises in the country in years.
National Electrical Coordinator said that containment failure of a high-voltage transmission line left a power outage in northern Chile’s Atacama Desert en-route to Santiago and further. Though the exact reason behind the failure is still unknown.
The blackout hit 14 of Chile’s 16 regions, including the capital, where subway services were halted indefinitely. Interior Minister Carolina Toha told citizens that hospitals, prisons, and government offices were powering by generators urgently as authorities worked to restore electricity. 
It is a major failure of the national grid, said Toha. He added that emergency measures would be applied if the power was not back on by the evening.
Santiago and coastal city of Valparaiso governments evacuated subway passengers stranded, and flooded social media with footage of gridlocked intersections without traffic lights, people taking photos using mobile phone flash and police directing crowds.
Mobile networks were disrupted in some suburbs and Santiago International Airport switched to the use of an emergency power to keep air traffic flying. Transport Minister Juan Carlos Muñoz asked people to stay inside with significant disruptions, he said.
As authorities search for answers, Chileans prepare for the unknown, praying the grid stabilizes before the emergency becomes worse.
