SWABI, Aug 23: Patients at the civil hospital here faced a host of difficulties as a 15-hour power breakdown crippled life in Swabi and suburbs and some parts of the Mardan and Buner districts on Thursday and Friday.

The power supply to these areas remained suspended from 8pm Thursday till 11.20am Friday due to a fault in the main supply line.

Sources in the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) said the fault would be located and rectified by the technical staff. It might take about three hours to restore the power supply, they added.

However, they failed to give the exact nature of the fault or where it had occurred on the line.

As none of the hospitals, including the DHQ hospital, has the generator facility to cope with the electricity failure, the patients were the worst-hit. These health outlets remained in dark from Thursday evening till Friday morning.

A source in Mardan told this correspondent that the power supply was suspended for replacing conductors and desks, which, he added, had taken 15 hours.

The restoration of the electricity supply was delayed due to heavy rains that lashed Mardan and Swabi and disturbed the working of the technical staff, the sources said.