Areas across Chile are affected following the power outage

The UK Foreign Office has issued advice for British citizens in Chile – after a power outage hit millions of people across the South American country. The power outage has stranded commuters, paralysed businesses and left much of the country without electricity.

Chile’s government did not immediately offer an explanation for the widespread power failures that left millions of people without electricity from the northernmost Chilean port of Arica to the southern Los Lagos agricultural region.

Chile’s national disaster response service, Senapred, reported only that a “disruption in the supply of electricity” had provoked a “massive power outage” across more than a dozen regions in the country, including the capital city of Santiago, where authorities said there would be no subway service until further notice.

In an update shortly before 1am on Wednesday, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said: “Chile has experienced a widespread electric grid outage on 25 February 2025.

“Power remains out across large parts of the country. Transport options and telephone networks, in particular in the Metropolitan Region in Santiago, are disrupted.

“The Government have announced a State of Exception and a curfew, beginning 22:00 Tuesday 25 February until 06:00 Wednesday 26 February. You should monitor local media for updates and follow the instructions and advice of the authorities.”

The country’s electricity distributor, Saesa, which serves more than a million people across Chile, confirmed that a nationwide power failure had affected all its customers.

Officials said they were evacuating passengers from darkened tunnels and subway stations in Santiago and elsewhere in the country, including the coastal tourist hotspot of Valparaiso.

Videos on social media from all over Chile, home to more than 19 million people, showed chaos at intersections without functioning traffic lights and evacuations of office buildings.

Mobile phone services were also offline in parts of the country.

Interior minister Carolina Toha said she was convening officials and electricity providers in a race to restore service.