Brief blackout in the South causes confusion
Most of the South was engulfed in darkness for 35 minutes from about 7.45pm Tuesday night following malfunctions at the main power station in Prachuap Khiri Khan's Kui Buri district.
The distribution of electricity resumes, first after around 35 minutes at certain locations, but most of the region are still in the dark even after two hours.
Initial reports quoting the Provincial Electricity Authorities said a malfunction had been reported at a power station in Trang, but the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) said the problems had occurred at the plant in Bang Saphan district.
Energy Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal said later that the plant in Kui Buri had stalled partially, which resulted in a huge drop in power distributed. He initially suspected it would take three to four hours for things to return to normal.
News of the blackout broke in social media before it was picked up and reported by the broadcast media. Many social-media postings put the blackout down to terrorist attacks in the deep South, causing confusion among netizens.
The Isra News Agency reported that volunteers in the deep South were also calling on residents to exercise extra caution, allegedly after security officials issued a warning of possible terror attacks.
Meanwhile, the power plat in Bang Saphan brought electricity back to all households after dispatching a number of mobile generators.
