Vandals Cause Nationwide Blackout

For nearly two hours last night, the entire country was without power. And today Belize Electricity Limited says the blackout was caused by a deliberate act of sabotage. A BEL release says that vandals threw a wire over the high voltage line between Maskall and Orange Walk Town along the Old Northern Highway. That caused the 115-kilovolt line to trip cutting off supply from Mexico and then overloading local supply sources, which crashed the system. The system crashed at 8:15 and power countrywide wasn't restored until 10:15. To do this BEL says they had to isolate the area on the old Northern Highway. Mollejon and the gas turbines kicked in for the rest of the country while power to the north was restored from Mexico. The entire country should be back on line with Mexico tonight. The BDF is now protecting the power company's transmission lines. BEL is offering an reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the vandals.