A power blackout hit Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur and several southern states on Thursday, causing major traffic congestion and disrupting train services. The blackout, which started around noon local time, was only restored in several areas some two hours later. By then, traffic in most areas had come to a standstill due to non-functioning traffic lights. Aside from the capital city, the central Selangor state as well as three states in the south - Malacca, Johor and Negeri Sembilan - were affected by the blackout, caused by breakdown of a power switch at one of the country's main power stations, said deputy chief executive officer of national power company Tenaga Nasional, Abdul Hadi Mohd Drus. "What happened today puzzled us and we are investigating it," he told a media conference. Water and Communications Minister Lim Keeng Yaik said the government was conducting a thorough investigation to determine the actual cause of the power failure, adding that he was confident the electricity supply would be restored nationwide by Thursday evening. Two similar power outages occurred in the capital last year, while in September 2003 a major failure hit several northern Malaysian states.
