Pakistan suffers major power outage after grid failure

Islamabad: Pakistan suffered country-wide power cuts early on Monday due to a major breakdown in its national grid, the federal energy ministry said.

"According to initial information, at about 7:34 AM (local time) today, the National Grid experienced a loss of frequency, that caused a major breakdown. A swift work is on to revive the system," the ministry said in a statement.

Power was out in all major cities, including Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar.

A frequency variation was reported in the southern part of the country between the cities of Jamshoro and Dadu when systems were turned on on Monday morning, power minister Khurrum Dastagir told Geo TV channel.

"There was a fluctuation in voltage and the systems were shut down one by one. This is not a major crisis," Dastagir said.

Some grids in the country had already been restored, the minister added.