Buenos Aires:
Argentine authorities on Thursday scrambled to find the cause of a blackout that left tens of thousands of Buenos Aires customers without power for more than 24 hours.
The blackout, which struck late on Wednesday in the middle of a heat wave, at first left 3.4 million customers without power. By Thursday 200,000 were still in the dark.
"We have not found a cause that could have justified" the blackout, said Planning Minister Julio de Vido, suggesting that sabotage may have played a role.
"The situation was striking because the (main power) line was operating at half of its capacity," said de Vido. "We cannot blame the heat wave."
De Vido said the government was trying to find out "who pulled the switch, who interrupted power service," and would file a criminal complaint "for the possible commission of the crime of a partial or total destruction of the electric energy service."
"No hypothesis is being ruled out," said Alejandra Martinez, a spokesperson with the EDESUR utility company.