Major wide blackout hits Central Asia

Many cities in Uzbekistan, including Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Kokand, and Nukus suffered power cuts at around lunchtime.

In Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, the nation’s capital, as well as southern cities like Osh and Jalalabad were likewise affected. In Kazakhstan, Almaty and cities in the country’s south were also left without power.

Energy officials said that work was underway to restore electricity supplies, but there was no immediate consensus over the cause of the outage. (ILKHA)