Labor accident left 1.3 million without electricity in the Yucatan Peninsula

Julio Gutiérrez Periódico La Jornada

Thursday, June 23, 2022, p. 37A

power outage left practically two out of three homes in the Yucatán peninsula without electricity for almost three hours this Wednesday morning. The Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) attributed the event to an accident involving one of its workers.

When consulted by this newspaper, the energy company stated that the causes of the accident are still under investigation, for which reason it did not provide any further information.

At 8:30 a.m. the CFE reported that 1,300,000 users, the equivalent of 62 percent of those in the region, which includes Yucatan, Quintana Roo and Campeche, were without electricity.

According to the information provided, at 8:32 a.m. six high voltage lines were suspended due to a mishap suffered by a worker who was performing maintenance on the main substation of the peninsula.

This facility provides electricity service to the hotel zone of Cancun and the Riviera Maya. This area is the most important for the national tourist activity, due to the number of national and foreign visitors who come for vacation.

The CFE stated that although only one transmission line was damaged, the remaining five were taken out of operation because it is a protective measure to prevent further damage to the power supply.

At 11:35 a.m., the state-owned company informed that the electricity supply had been fully reestablished as a result of a series of actions taken together with the National Energy Control Center (Cenace).

The largest number of affected users was in Yucatan (681,950 people). The company's report indicated that in Quintana Roo the number was 619,612 users and in Campeche, 20,938.

With respect to the worker, the CFE stated that he was transferred to a health center and at the close of this edition he was reported as stable

.

This is not the first blackout of the year, as on May 22 the peninsular distribution division of the CFE also had a problem after a series of transmission lines went out of service, affecting 690 thousand users in the region.