Sudden blackout upsets football fans

JAKARTA (JP): A sudden blackout occurred on Sunday evening due to a small explosion in the Pulomas electrical relay station in East Jakarta, upsetting residents who were enjoying a football game on television between Indonesia and China.

The Sunday night blackout affected residents in Pondok Kopi, Kampung Melayu, Rawamangun, Duren Sawit, and Matraman -- all in East Jakarta.

An employee of the state-owned electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), Juhri, said that the company's workers immediately went to the site after the blackout at about 8:40 p.m., and were working on "getting the lights back on as soon as possible."

"These things sometimes happen... something must have gone wrong with the electrical cables. It was definitely not a bomb or explosion, or anything like that. It was just the cables. We are fixing it," Juhri told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

"Some people here (at PLN) said that the residents who were watching football on TV when the blackout started used an electrical generator to continue watching the game." (ylt)