Sri Lanka extended power cuts for a third day on Thursday as it scrambled to restore its national grid to full capacity after a monkey triggered a widespread blackout over the weekend that disrupted supply to the island's 22 million people.

A monkey in Sri Lanka caused power outage in Sri Lanka, forcing a power outage in the island nation. The power minister confirmed the news, adding the power was restored at key installations after an hour of disruption.

Sri Lanka has grappled with a struggling energy grid for years, and monkeys are making it worse. On Sunday at around 11:00 local time (12:30 AM EST), a nationwide blackout forced its 22 million residents to either turn to personal generators,

Officials in Sri Lanka said a monkey in the wrong place at the wrong time was to blame for a power blackout that affected the entire nation.

Sri Lanka experienced extended power cuts due to a nationwide blackout caused by a monkey that disrupted a transformer at a Colombo suburb station. The incident resulted in limited power supply, affecting the national grid and causing cuts during peak hours.

The island nation, where temperatures are above 30°C in most places, suffered a blackout from 11:30 am (local time) onwards. The impact on places like hospitals and schools was not immediately known

The outage began around 11:30 a.m. local time and persisted for over three hours, with authorities working to restore full service, according to the reports.

Sri Lankan authorities have been working to restore power following a nationwide outage that occurred on Sunday, the state-owned electricity producer and supplier, Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), announced.

Over the weekend, residents of Sri Lanka found themselves without power during a heat wave, but it wasn’t because of the oppressive temperatures. The energy minister for the island nation reported that the power outage was initially caused by a monkey when it came into contact with a grid transformer.

COLOMBO (Reuters) -- Sri Lanka extended power cuts for a third day on Thursday as it scrambled to restore its national grid to full capacity after a monkey triggered a widespread blackout over the weekend that disrupted supply to the island's 22 million people.

A monkey has been blamed for causing a nationwide blackout in Sri Lanka. The island nation's 22 million residents were mostly left without power during the outage, which began around 11am local time (5.30am GMT) on Sunday.