Power outage in Sindh as Jamshoro grid station catches fire

HYDERABAD: At least ten cities of Sindh, including Karachi, plunged into darkness after a fire erupted at a 500KV grid station in Jamshoro in the wees hours of Tuesday morning.

A fire at Jamshoro grid station of National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) left several cities of Sindh completely without power with outages reported at Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Sehwan, Thana Bula Khan, Noriabad, Kotri, Tando Jam, Tando Allahyar, Matiari, Thatta, and several parts of Karachi.

At least 66 out of 76 feeders of Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) were shut down due to fire at the Jamshoro Grid Station which was doused after hectic efforts as panic gripped the area.

The power supply to Karachi was also suspended. K-Electric issued a statement stating that the grid station provides power supply of 600 Megawatts to the city, of which 200 MW was suspended.

The fire was contained and extinguished within two hours as four fire trucks participated in the operation. Fire brigade personnel and vehicles from Lakhra Power House, Noriabad, Hyderabad and Kotri were called to douse the fire.

Power was restored in Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Thatta, Badin, Kotri and Karachi after seven hours of extensive repair work. The electric wires that fell on the Indus Highway have been picked up during clearance work.

The Power Division took notice of the incident and has asked the National Transmission and Dispatch Company to submit a technical report over the fire. Power Minister Omar Ayub remained in contact with authorities during the fire incident and monitored the situation.