The power outage occurred in the morning when an animal made contact with a section of an electricity substation in Panadura, a city located near Colombo, resulting in a failure of the entire power grid.
Power Minister Kumara Jayakodi confirmed the incident in a statement, noting that essential facilities, including the national hospital, had their power restored within an hour.
However, restoring electricity to other regions took longer, with government officials warning that water supplies might also be impacted.
This blackout coincides with ongoing power shortages in Sri Lanka, according to local reports.
On February 10 and 11, the country had scheduled 90-minute power cuts due to issues at a major coal power plant.
The 900-megawatt Norochcholai plant in the northwestern area experienced a breakdown, complicating the country’s ability to produce sufficient electricity.
Sri Lanka has previously encountered power crises during its economic downturn in 2022, which was exacerbated by a lack of funds to import fuel.
At one point, residents endured 12-hour power cuts, leading to protests that ultimately resulted in the resignation and departure of then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
India subsequently provided a $4 billion loan to assist Sri Lanka in its recovery efforts.
Sunday’s outage marks the first significant blackout since 2022.
Officials from the Ceylon Electricity Board, responsible for the nation’s power supply, expressed their apologies for the disruption but did not clarify how a single monkey could lead to such a widespread failure. There was also no information regarding the fate of the monkey.
