By A Staff Reporter - Thu, 23 February 2012
MUSCAT — Much of Salalah city and its environs were plunged in darkness yesterday evening after a technical glitch that apparently occurred during a temporary switch from gas-based to diesel-power generation, a well-informed local resident said.
The blackout began at around 5.30 pm yesterday when citizens and residents were out and about at the start of the weekend holiday. While some establishments switched to backup systems, many other commercial outlets downed shutters prematurely.
With traffic signals on the blink, traffic on some busy roads was reduced to a crawl as vehicles with their headlights ablaze navigated the darkened streets. In homes and dwellings across the city, residents scrambled for torches, rechargeable lanterns and candles while waiting out the outage.
Power came back in stages starting from 9.30 pm last night, a full four hours after the disruption occurred. Supply was fully restored by around 9.45 pm.