An electricity blackout left much of Georgia in darkness on Friday, stranding thousands of people in subway cars and cutting off water supplies in the capital of one of the world’s poorest countries.
A break in high-tension wires — an altogether frequent occurance in Georgia, which is struggling to pull itself out of its post-Soviet malaise — cut off power at 1.30pm local time.
Four hours later power had only been restored to half the capital, Tbilisi.
Emergency procedures were used to reach thousands of people who were trapped underground in subway cars, officials said.
The power outage came just more than a week after lightning struck a high-tension wire on August 4 and cut off electricity across Georgia for an hour.
Most of Georgia’s industry was controlled by the government under the regime of Eduard Shevardnadze, who was ousted as president in November 2003, with corruption rampant and state coffers diminished by unpaid taxes.
President Mikhail Saakashvili toppled Shevardnadze’s decade-old regime last year in a peaceful ”rose revolution” and won a resounding presidential election victory in January, vowing to clean up the economy. — Sapa-AFP