19,000,000 people left without electricity after entire country hit by blackout

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It's estimated that around 19 million people are without electricity after a massive power outage has swept across Chile, leaving the entire country in the dark.

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Although the exact scale of the outage is still unknown, the world's largest copper mine, Escondida, has been left without power, a source close to the situation informed Reuters.

LATAM Airlines has also reported that several flights have been disrupted due to the blackout, and is advising passengers to check on the status of their journey.

The National Electrical Coordinator, the agency in charge of Chile's power grid, stated that the outage was caused by a disruption in the transmission system in the Norte Chico region.

An estimated 80.1 percent of customers remained uninformed.

The Interior Minister, Carolina Tohá, posted on X that an emergency meeting with the Disaster Risk Management Committees has been scheduled to address the issue at hand.

‘Given the power outage affecting the regions of Arica and Parinacota and Los Lagos, I have called an emergency meeting of the National #Cogrid [Disaster Risk Management Committees], where we will take immediate action to address the crisis and work on restoring power service,’ she announced.

Streetlights in Santiago's capital have been knocked out by the power outage, and witnesses say they heard emergency sirens echoing through the streets as authorities responded to the blackout.

"There's nothing. There's no cash. No money. Nothing," said Jose Luis Orlandini, who was eating downtown in Santiago when the cut happened.

Other footage from around the country showed passengers evacuating train stations by walking up idle escalators, while traffic lights were also shown to be not functioning.

There were also long lines of buses that were still moving on the city's streets.

Maria Angelica Roman, 45, told AFP news agency: 'They let us leave work because of the power cut, but now I don't know how we'll get home because all the buses are full.'

Toha stated that power should begin coming back online in the "coming hours."

We're hoping that what we've been told will come true, that we'll have electricity back within the next few hours," she said. "If that doesn't happen, we'll have to take alternative steps.

Antofagasta, a copper mining company, reported that it is operating its mines using a backup power generator.

A power outage stranded several people on a roller coaster as it was preparing to drop down a steep track at Fantasilandia, a popular amusement park in Santiago.

The park's management informed CNN Chile that backup generators were activated to restore service and clear customers.

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