A sweeping blackout has hit Chile, stranding commuters, paralyzing countless businesses and leaving most of the South American country without electricity.

The government did not immediately offer an explanation for the widespread power failures that left millions of people without electricity all the way from the northernmost Chilean port of Arica to the southern Los Lagos agricultural region.

Chile’s national disaster response service, Senapred, reported only that a “disruption in the supply of electricity” had provoked a “massive power outage” across more than a dozen regions in the country, including Chile’s capital of Santiago, where authorities said there would be no subway service until further notice.

The country’s electricity distributor, Saesa, which serves more than a million people across Chile, confirmed that a nationwide power failure had affected all of its customers.

Officials said they were evacuating passengers from darkened tunnels and subway stations in Santiago and elsewhere in the country, including the coastal tourist hotspot of Valparaíso.

Videos on social media from all over Chile, home to over 19 million people, showed chaos at intersections without functioning traffic lights and evacuations of office buildings.

Mobile phone services also blinkered offline in parts of the country.

The interior minister, Carolina Tohá, said she was convening officials and electricity providers in a race to restore service.

More details soon …