An electricity grid failure in Bangladesh on Tuesday afternoon left 140 million out of the country’s 168 million population without power.

The grid failure caused widespread blackouts, Bangladesh’s power utility company told AFP.

According to the Dhaka Tribune, the national power transmission grid failed at 2.05 pm (local time), leading to blackouts across the county barring some parts in the North.

Officials of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) reportedly said the power grid tripped “somewhere in the eastern part of the country.

Following the afternoon snag, all other transmission grids tripped one after the other leading to power failures in Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Barisal, and Mymensingh regions of the country, the report added. Only a few districts in the Raipur region remain unscathed.

PGCB Chief Engineer Mohd Moqsedur Rahman told a local news publication that the problem was yet to be fixed; however electricity could only be restored by 6 pm local time.

Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB), a grouping of telecom services providers, released a statement saying telecom services may be disrupted due to the ongoing power situation.