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Third islandwide power failure hits Sri Lanka in 6 months

Xinhua, March 13, 2016 Adjust font size:

A country-wide power failure was reported in Sri Lanka on Sunday, the third to hit the island within six months.

Anura Wijepala, chairman of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), told Xinhua that the exact reason of Sunday's power failure could not be identified and engineers were working to restore the power.

"At the moment we do not know what is wrong. Our engineers are working on it," Wijepala said, minutes after the electricity failure.

Sunday's power failure is the third to be reported since the new government was sworn to power in a parliamentary election in August last year.

The first power failure was reported in September due to a technical fault at the CEB, followed by another on Feb. 25.

Power and Energy Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said last month's power cut was due to a lightning jolt to hit one of the main electricity lines in the capital.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe called for an immediate probe into the power failures and appointed two special committees to submit their reports. Endit