A nationwide electricity outage has struck Ecuador, leaving the nation of about 18 million in the dark, including the capital’s subway system, as authorities worked to repair faulty power lines, a senior official said.

“There is a failure in the transmission line that caused a cascade disconnection, so there’s no electricity at a national scale,” public works minister Roberto Luque said in a post on X on Wednesday.

Luque also serves as the country’s acting energy minister.

A Reuters witness said there was confusion on the streets of Quito, the capital, as traffic lights ceased working. Operations of Quito’s subway system have also ground to a halt.