The Ministry of Economy asked the justice to investigate the fires that caused the massive blackout

The Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, filed a complaint with the federal justice this afternoon “in order to investigate, pursue and if necessary arrest” those responsible for the fires that affected high voltage networks in the Buenos Aires party of Campana, which determined the preventive fall of electricity service in much of the country. Through a letter addressed to the Federal Judge of First Instance of Campana, Adrián González Charvay, Massa requested that the necessary measures be taken in order to investigate the fires in the Paraná Delta area. “In that sense, taking into account the certainty that invades me about the intentionality of the events, I ask V.S. to continue the actions of rigor,” the minister requested. Due to the fires, this afternoon much of the country suffered a massive power outage amid high temperatures. At first it transpired that Atucha I had stopped working, however, from the sector they explained that “Atucha I and other power generation plants were disengaged” as part of a control mechanism. The Undersecretary of Electric Energy, Santiago Yanotti, had advanced that the fire in the electrical network that caused the massive blackout “could be intentional or not,” the official said he did not know. “This line runs throughout the country, from Yacyretá to Patagonia. We had an attack in the south of the country recently. It may be that the fire occurred because of the high temperature or that someone recklessly burned pastures,” he said. Hours later, the complaint was filed in the Federal Justice to request the investigation of the facts. The government estimates that the power outage affected nearly 20 million users. The electricity supply returned in several provinces that were without power for more than two hours: much of the AMBA, Córdoba, Santa Fe, La Rioja, Tucumán, La Pampa, Río Negro, Neuquén, Mendoza and San Juan.

Original source in Spanish