STORY: :: Spain’s Sanchez says authorities will ‘not rule out any hypothesis’ as they search for the cause of a mass blackout
:: April 28, 2025
:: Pedro Sanchez, Prime Minister of Spain
“We do not yet have conclusive information on the reasons for this cut, so I ask the people, as we have done in past crises, to inform themselves through official channels.” // “It is better not to speculate. We will know the causes. We do not rule out any hypothesis, but now we must focus on the most important thing, which is to restore electricity to our homes.” // “For the moment there is no evidence of any civil protection problems. I repeat, there are no problems of insecurity.”
Spain and Portugal were hit by a widespread power outage that paralyzed public transport, caused large traffic jams and delayed flights.
Utility operators sought to restore the grid but Spanish electricity transmission operator Red Eléctrica said the outage, the cause of which was not immediately known, could last from six to 10 hours.
Officials said the possibility that it was caused by a cyber attack had not been ruled out.
The Spanish and Portuguese governments met to discuss the outage, which also briefly affected parts of France, and a crisis committee was set up in Spain, sources familiar with the situation said.
