Ecuador suffers a nationwide blackout, leaving 17 million in the dark.

CNN
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An hour-long nationwide blackout hit Ecuador on Wednesday, leaving 17 million people in the South American country without power.

Officials said the blackout – which affected hospitals, homes and a large subway system – was caused by maintenance and transmission problems in the country's electricity system.

“The outage we had today was due to a lack of investment in maintenance, new electrical transmission, and protection of electrical transmission infrastructure,” Public Infrastructure Minister Roberto Luc told a news conference Wednesday.

By Wednesday night, power had been restored to 95 percent of the country, according to the government.

Ecuador has been struggling with an energy crisis for years. The most recent saw Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declare an energy emergency in April and order an eight-hour nationwide blackout that affected power generation during the drought.

In the capital, Quito, a CNN team saw two hospitals, including a children's medical center, lose power during the blackout. Both hospitals were able to rely on electricity from their own generators shortly after the cut began.

In Guayaquil, the country's largest city, blackouts also briefly affected two other hospitals. “The electricity was cut but we have our (generators),” said a doctor at Luis Vernaza Hospital in Guayaquil. CNN contacted the country's health ministry to ask if other hospitals were affected.

Guayaquil residents faced blackouts amid 90-degree Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) heat. “It's unbearable, it's very hot and humid, and we can't use air conditioners or ventilators,” one resident told CNN.

“On top of that, the water is not running,” the resident added.

The blackout disrupted service on Quito's subway system, with the capital's mayor, Pebble Muse, saying the outage was so “significant” that it affected the subway despite using an “isolated (power) system.” .

Infrastructure Minister Luque said the blackout could have been avoided if Ecuador had planned to “invest in infrastructure security in both generating (power) and transmission” after a similar blackout in 2004.

Loke said Wednesday's blackout was not related to the country's energy crisis since last April.

“The outage we had in April was due to a lack of investment in new (power) generation and maintenance of the (power) we have,” Loke said.

This story has been updated with additional developments.