Thousands of homes in central South Africa were left without power on Friday after a marksman hit an overhead power line when taking a pot-shot at a bird sitting on the wire.
A spokesperson for the Eskom power company said that two entire towns in the south-east of the central Free State province were blacked out after the incident at breakfast time.
Chriska van der Merwe said that the fault would be repaired later in the day but called on members of the public not to take aim at birds sitting on power lines.
“It is costly, time consuming and a lot of work, not to mention the inconvenience to the public and all the industries in the area,” she told the South African Press Association news agency. — AFP