Sri Lanka woke up to an unexpected crisis on Sunday—a total nationwide blackout.
The culprit? Not a cyberattack or technical failure, but a single monkey.
The chaos began around 11:00 AM local time when a monkey somehow managed to tamper with a grid transformer at a power station near Colombo.
According to Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody, one small misstep led to a massive system imbalance, plunging the entire country of 22 million into darkness.
As power stations scrambled to restore electricity, hospitals, and water purification plants were prioritized.
Meanwhile, social media lit up with criticism, humor, and disbelief.
“A single monkey shut down an entire nation’s power grid. Time to rethink infrastructure?” one X user quipped.
Another posted an image of Hanuman, the Hindu monkey god, with the caption, “Sri Lanka tasted monkey business before.”
A senior power official, quoted by the Daily Mirror, warned that Sri Lanka’s fragile grid has been on the brink for years.
