A third of the Island was last night plunged into darkness after a power blackout at Belco.

Up to 15,000 homes across Bermuda lost power at 10.11 p.m. after two engines failed at Belco.

Susan McGrath-Smith, a spokeswoman for the energy company, said last night: "We lost a couple of engines and about 25 circuits went out. A third of the Island went out at 10.11 p.m. That's 12,000 to 15,000 customers out."

She said the loss of power was widespread and not restricted to particular parishes.

"When two engines trip it's generalised across the Island, because they go into loadshed and need to get as much load off the system as possible, and so this doesn't affect a particular parish, said Mrs. McGrath-Smith.

Speaking just before The Royal Gazette went to Press, at 11 p.m., she said: "We expect that within the next hour we will have everybody back. The Operations Centre staff are working very hard to get everybody back on."

"We don't know the cause yet. We will investigate this, to find out whether it was the transmission and distribution system — such as a cable going out, or an engine fault.

"The priority right now is to get everybody back on."