COLOMBO — Sri Lanka suffered a complete blackout on Sunday after a monkey came in contact with an electrical grid at a Colombo suburb, government officials said.

The power outage began around 11:30 am (0600 GMT). The power was restored in some areas, but it was not clear how much longer the outage would last.

Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody reportedly blamed a monkey for causing the power cut, saying the animal came into "contact with our grid transformer causing an imbalance in the system", according to the AFP news agency.

The state power entity restored power at the national hospital and other key installations after an hour of the outage, he added.

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) said the power cut had been caused by an emergency at a sub-station, south of Colombo, and gave no further details.

"Engineers are attending to it to try and restore the service as soon as possible," the minister said.

The CEB said "we are making every effort to restore the island-wide power failure as soon as possible".

Hospitals and businesses across the island nation of 22 million people have been using generators or inverters.

In 2022, Sri Lankans suffered months of electricity blackouts when the country plunged into an economic crisis.

Fuel stations ran out of petrol and diesel, forcing thermal power stations to ration electricity to 13 hours each day. — Agencies