In this photo taken Tuesday, April 10, 2012, a Vervet monkey prepares to leap from a branch in the Maasai Mara, Kenya. Kenya's power generation company said Wednesday, June 8, 2016 that a nationwide blackout for a number of hours on Tuesday was caused by a monkey climbing onto the roof of a power station and falling onto a transformer. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Republished June 08, 2016 - 9:04 AM
Original Publication Date June 07, 2016 - 10:45 PM
NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenya's power generation company says a monkey caused a three-hour nationwide blackout.
The Kenya Electricity Generation Company said in a statement late Tuesday that a monkey climbed onto the roof of the Gitaru Power Station in central Kenya and fell onto a transformer, tripping it.
The company said this caused other machines in the station to trip, resulting in the loss of 180MW from the plant, triggering a national blackout. The statement did not say whether the monkey survived.
The blackout lasted more than three hours Tuesday before power was restored.
The company said that its facility is secured with an electric fence, and that this was an isolated incident.
News from © The Associated Press, 2016