Massive Blackout hits Argentina capital

A huge power cut in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires caused a blackout to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses on Tuesday and brought metro lines to a standstill.

Power company said about one million people in the south-central area of the city were affected.

The company said outage was traced back to a fire at a substation.

It said power cuts are not uncommon in Buenos Aires in summer, usually caused by hot weather creating surges in demand.

In June 2019, a massive  electrical   failure  left tens of millions of people in the dark in Argentina and also in neighbouring Uruguay.

Reports say the latest incident briefly stopped  trains  running on at least two metro lines, .

The city’s fire service confirmed that it had tackled a fire near an electricity substation and pictures on social media showed smoke rising from the ground next to a pylon.

In October, energy minister Darío Martínez told newsmen that Buenos Aires residents could expect many power cuts which he attributed to a lack of investment.