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Power Grid Collapse In Bangladesh Leaves 140 Million People In Dark
Power Grid Collapse In Bangladesh Leaves 140 Million People In Dark
Bangladesh’s national power grid collapsed Tuesday afternoon, plunging 140 million people, or nearly everyone in the country, into darkness, AFP reported.
Reuters spoke with officials at the state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board, who said power transmission failed in the eastern part of the country and then tripped power plants nationwide, cutting off power to the capital, Dhaka, and other major metro areas.
Bangladesh Power Development Board official Shameem Hasan said engineers are investigating ‘glitches’ in the power system. He said restoring the system could take several hours once issues are resolved.
“We are trying to restore the system,” Hasan said.
Bangladesh is one of the world’s largest garment exporters after China. The country is also an emerging outsourcing destination for business operations, such as call centers…
*Developing…
Major Oil Threatens India and Bangladesh Sunderbans
Major Oil Threatens India and Bangladesh Sunderbans.
Nearly 350 tonne of oil spilled into the Sela river of the Sunderbans on Tuesday after an oil tanker collided with an empty cargo vessel in the Bangaldesh side of the mangrove forests. The spill may cross over to the Indian side of the Sunderbans, and cause serious damage to the ecosystem which is home to Royal Bengal Tigers, Olive Ridley turtles, Ganges Dolphins and other species.
Sunderbans is a World Heritage site and world’s largest mangrove forest. It is also the only mangrove ecosystem where tigers exist. Being the season of migration, many migratory birds from distant places like Siberia have come to these mangroves for wintering. Environment activists warn of a massive ecological disaster resulting from the spill, particularly in Mechua and Baghamara in the southernmost parts of the Sunderban delta where individual rivers meet the sea.
Spreading Distaster
Latest report informs that the oil spill has spread over an estimated 80 square Kilometer area in the Bangladesh side of the Sunderbans. The site, near Mongla port, is about 100km from the Kolkata port and given the crisscrossing way the tributaries and streams are distributed here, it can easily spread to a wider area including part of the forest in India and jeopardizing the lives of a large number of species. The Sunderban forest is a contiguous and fragile ecosystem spread over 26,000 square Kilometer in both countries.
The biggest risk is damage to the ecologically sensitive coral reef area in St. Martin’s island and also health risks to the river dolphins. The accident took place in one of the three dolphin sanctuaries in the area, which is a no-go zone for vessels.
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Bangladesh power restored after blackout – Central & South Asia – Al Jazeera English
Bangladesh power restored after blackout – Central & South Asia – Al Jazeera EnglishBangladesh has restored power in most of the country, a day after a transmission line bringing electricity from neighbouring India failed, causing a nationwide blackout, officials have said.
The blackout, which affected more than 150 million people, was the country’s worst since a 2007 cyclone knocked out the national grid for several hours, and again exposed inefficient and dated infrastructure that has held back development in the South Asian nation.
Power was restored in Dhaka, the capital, and in other major cities too, but it was not clear how many people were still without electricity, which had been cut across Bangladesh at around noon on Saturday after a “technical glitch” that led to a cascade of failures throughout the national power grid, with power plants and substations shutting down.
Al Jazeera’s Tanvir Chowdhury, reporting from Dhaka, said that 80 percent of the country’s power has been restored, with 20 percent left to go.
“Calm has returned to the country, but most of the industries and the emergency service hospital clinics were badly hit [by the blackout],” he said.