PLN says sabotage remote possibility in power disruption

State power firm PLN said on Friday there was remote possibility that sabotage had been behind the blackout in many parts of Jakarta and its surrounds on Thursday evening and Friday morning.

?We have not found any evidence of it. Sabotage is not the most possible cause,? PLN president director Eddie Widiono said in a news conference.

Parts of Greater Jakarta were blacked out on Thursday from 5:53 p.m., a day after Sutiyoso was reelected Jakarta governor for another five years. There had been mounting demonstrations against reelection of the retired army lieutenant general. The black out last several hours.

Power disruption occurred again in many parts of Jakarta and its surrounds for a few hours on Friday, starting from around 9 a.m. Eddi said however Friday?s power disruption was less serious compared with what had happened on Thursday.

PLN announced on Thursday that blackout on that day had been caused by a disrupted system in a 500 kilovolt (kV) electricity supply in the Suralaya-Cibinong-Bekasi transmission line in West Java province, affecting at least 40 relay stations in Jakarta and Tangerang.

Meanwhile, Eddie said in Friday?s news conference power disruption early in the day had been because something wrong had occurred at the 500 kV Saguling-Cibinong grid in West Java. The disruption had affected power transmission from Cibinong to Jakarta and its surrounds. (godang/leo)