SUKKUR, June 22: Almost half of Sukkur city plunged into darkness on Wednesday night when the Arain grid station developed a fault.

People of the area, especially of the Minara Road, Civil Hospital and Ayub Gate passed sleepless night in the sweltering heat.

Power at Tower Feeder of Sub Division-I Sukkur failed at about 12:20am and was restored at 5:25am on Thursday morning. During all this period, no high official of Hesco could be contacted despite repeated attempts. Their mobile phones remained switched off and landline phones engaged permanently or were not responding.

The phone of the Arain grid station was out of order while phone of the sub-division in question was constantly engaged.

After two hours, when the contact established with an official at the sub-division, he was not aware about the fault. The official said he was contacting the grid station staff and other officials concerned to know about the problem.

However, no official was available on phone to comment on the situation.

Later, in the day, when this reporter established contact with the shift in-charge of the Arain grid station, Mushtaq Ahmed, on his mobile phone, he said one current terminal (CT) of the main transformer had burnt, causing power breakdown.

He said the maintenance staff had replaced the CT and power supply restored.