Mentally ill man causes power outage in Negros

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – The northern part of Negros Occidental suffered a blackout late Wednesday night after a supposedly mentally ill man climbed a nine-foot tower of a substation of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco), triggering a power shutdown.

The man, whose identity was still being verified, suffered burns on his body and was rushed to the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital.

But before he could be treated, he went to the bathroom of the radiology department and poured water on his body, dyEZ Aksyon Radyo reported.

He then jumped over a 20-foot wall, landed in a creek and hid among the houses at the back of the hospital. 

He was later found and brought back to the hospital for treatment of his burns.

Ceneco president Edward Gasambelo said the man entered a critical part of the 69-KV substation that supplied power not only to Bacolod but also to northern areas of the province.

Power was restored after an hour in areas outside Bacolod, according to Zosimo Briones, Negros head of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).

He said the shutdown of the Burgos feeder caused an automatic isolation of the NGCP breaker in Kabankalan City, causing power outages in northern Negros.

In Bacolod, some areas still had no electricity since Wednesday night. 

Gasambelo said they were operating abnormally with power supply being rotated. As of press time, power in four barangays had yet to be restored.