An accident occurred in the national energy system of Bangladesh around 2pm on Tuesday, leaving most of the country in the dark.
According to the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), the incident was caused by a tripped transmission line somewhere in the eastern part of the country.
"All power plants have been shut down, and power has been cut in the capital Dhaka and other major cities," said Shameem Hassan, a BPDB director.
The engineers of both BPDB and the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) are trying to restore transmission, according to Hassan.
Neither the exact cause of the network failure nor the location of the accident have yet been announced.
"Engineers were trying to determine where and why the glitches happened and it could take hours to restore the system," Hassan said.
Earlier this month, Farooq Hassan, president of the Bangladesh Apparel Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said that the power situation is so critical that garment factories are left without power for 4 to 10 hours a day. Bangladesh is the second largest clothing exporter in the world after China and earns more than 80% of its total foreign exchange from clothing exports every year.