India power outage affects hundreds of millions (PHOTOS)
An off-duty flight attendant from KLM Royal Dutch Airlines browses for souvenirs in a dark shop in Janpath Market, a popular tourist shopping area, during a power outage in New Delhi on July 31, 2012. India’s northern and eastern power grids collapsed on July 31, blacking out half the country and affecting hundreds of millions of people in the second day of electricity chaos.
A major power outage, which knocked out three grids, left at least 600 million people with no electricity in northern and eastern India.
More than half the country's population, spread across 20 states, was affected when trains and traffic came to a standstill and hospitals started running on generators, said the BBC.
India's power minister blamed the outage on certain states overdrawing power from the grid.
The story you just read is not locked behind a paywall because listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Now more than ever, we need your help to support our global reporting work and power the future of The World. Can we count on you?