Chile Power Cut: ‘We were trapped in darkness like sardine’

After the power transmission line failed, more than eight million houses were left without electricity in Chile on Tuesday afternoon, causing power supply to most parts of the country.

In the capital, Santiago, the entire underground train system was almost immediately suspended. Thousands of people had to be emptied and the stations were immersed in the dark.

“We were like Sardin in the dark,” a passenger described the moment that stopped his underground train.

Many of them which were in lifts inside stations, when there was power cuts, had to be freed by firefighters.

In the 70s, a woman was trapped in a lift between two floors in a building in Santiago.

He told the local media that he had “kicked the door” to draw attention to his plight and his scream eventually alerted Kansiaj.

“I am brave, I told myself ‘I am not going to die here’,” He said.

The video shared on social media also showed metro passengers to find their way from dark stations using flashlights of their mobile phone.

According to Metro de Santiago, the withdrawal of underground was completed 90 minutes after power cuts – but disruptions due to the outage done for several more hours.

150 additional buses deployed for Pheri passengers were not almost sufficient for the suspension of the metro, which transports an average of 2.3 meters passengers every day.

Long queues formed at the bus stop, where passengers rapidly got angry when the buses packed did not stop.

Their number was soon sent home with workers as most of the offices were paralyzed by lack of electricity.

A shopkeeper in Santiago said, “Electricity went out at 3:00 pm, so we had no power.” “People started closing at around 4 or 5 pm.”

The failure of several traffic lights was further interrupted in the capital.

A truck collided with a car at a crossing, where traffic lights were out and at least another accident was also due to lack of working traffic lights.

With gridlock malfunction, thousands of people were forced to walk on their destinations at a summer temperature of about 30 Celsius (86 Fahrenheit).

One of them, 28 -year -old Vetress, Sharon Ortis said the public transport system was “collapsed”.

“I had to work two hours late, I got stuck between Costanera (shopping center) and I had to walk from there,” he said.

Some people stopped the lifts behind the trucks.

Businesses affected by power cut were restaurants and cafes.

Some people remained open to offer a place to relax to those who go home, but many closed because cash machines, card machines and fridge were not working.

Some of the most dramatic scenes surfaced in an amusement park, Fantasilandia, an amusement park in Santiago, where at least a dozen people were trapped over a rollercaster.

The manager of Fantasilandia said that when the park had backup generators, the attraction would not restart immediately due to security reasons.

The hospital depended on the emergency generator for electricity.