Tens of millions of people on the island of Java were affected Sunday by a giant blackout due to failures in two power plants, according to public operator PLN.
Hospitals and airport spared
Buildings in Jakarta, which has a population of 30 million, have been cut off, and the new express train network of the Jakarta Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) has been temporarily shut down. Passengers were safely evacuated from several trains of the network when the breakdown occurred, according to MRT. Suburban train lines have also been affected.
Hospitals in Jakarta and Soekarno-Hatta International Airport were not affected because they have electric generators. "All hospitals in Jakarta have electric generators and are functioning normally," said city governor Anies Baswedan on social networks.
Chaos in car traffic
The blackout, which began around noon (7 am in France) also caused disturbances in the mobile phone network and put out of service traffic lights, aggravating chaos in car traffic.
"It's terribly hot at home because the air conditioning is out of order," said a 30-year-old resident, Maya Larasati. According to PLN, the failure occurred when the gas turbine of a major plant stopped operating, and a failure shut down another plant.