QUITO - Ecuador has been hit by a nationwide power outage, leaving the nation of some 18 million in the dark as authorities work to resolve the problem, public works minister Roberto Luque said on X on Wednesday.

"There is a failure in the transmission line that caused a cascade disconnection, so there's no electricity at a national scale," said Luque, who is also the acting energy minister.

In April, Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa declared an energy emergency and announced planned electricity cuts. The South American country has struggled with a drought affecting hydro-electricity power generation.

"Due to a general failure of the national interconnected electrical energy system, the operation of the Quito Metro is interrupted while the systems are restarted and verified," the metro system of capital city Quito posted on X.

  - Reuters