People sit inside a restaurant after a large power outage struck vast swaths of the country, in Santiago, Chile [Source: Reuters]

A massive power outage across Chile plunged the country’s capital Santiago into darkness and knocked out electricity to major copper mines in the country’s north, buffeting global metal markets.

Hours after the outage began and as darkness fell, Chile’s government announced a state of emergency and established a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. (0100 to 0900 GMT) from the northern region of Arica to the southern region of Los Lagos.

The widespread blackout was caused by a transmission line failure in the country’s north, Interior Minister Carolina Toha said, ruling out a cyber attack as a cause.

Chile’s largest power cut in years saw streetlights in the capital go dark, while sirens from emergency vehicles blared across the city, according to Reuters witnesses. The Santiago metro, which transports millions of passengers, was closed and passengers were evacuated from stalled trains.

“There’s nothing. There’s no cash. No money. Nothing,” said Jose Luis Orlandini, who was eating in downtown Santiago when the outage hit.

The interior ministry said it was deploying the armed forces across the country to help maintain order.

The head of Chile’s National Electricity Coordinator (CEN), Ernesto Huber, said there was still no time frame to restore electricity across the country, but areas in the north and south had started to regain power.

On Tuesday night, parts of Santiago, including the civic center where the Moneda presidential palace is located, regained power, as did parts of the coastal cities of Valparaiso and Vina del Mar, according to Reuters witnesses and media reports.

“We’ve activated several power stations, mainly hydroelectric stations,” Huber said, adding CEN was still investigating the cause of the outage.

Huber said companies were working to restore power “as soon as possible” and the agency would provide a more detailed update at 9:30 p.m.

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