By David E. Hubler
Contributor, EDM Digest
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After a brief, widespread power failure Sunday that affected more than 50 million people in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, Argentine officials began on Monday looking for the cause of the outage.
Argentine President Mauricio Macri quickly promised a thorough investigation. The probe is expected to take two to three weeks to complete, the Associated Press reported.
Phone, Internet Communications Affected by Outage
Argentina’s population of 44 million and residents of neighboring Uruguay and Paraguay awoke Sunday morning without electricity. Phone and internet communications were also disrupted.
Argentine Authorities Not Considering Cyberattack as a Possibility
Governments and utility companies are quick to act these days, fearing that power outages and grid failures could be the work of terrorists, hackers or unfriendly governments.
“At this moment, we do not rule out any possibilities,” Argentina’s Energy Secretary, Gustavo Lopetegui, said. “But … a cyberattack is not within the preliminary alternatives being considered,” he added, according to United Press International.
Lopetegui called the blackout “an extraordinary event” that should never have happened.
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Blackout Began with Failure of Interconnection System
The blackout began with a failure in the country’s “interconnection system,” Lopetegui explained, adding that a chain of events ensued that caused the total disruption.
According to the Argentine power company Edesur, the system collapse occurred at 7:07 a.m. As of Sunday night, half of Argentina’s power had been restored, including in Buenos Aires, CNN said.