A monkey allegedly caused a three-hour nationwide blackout in Kenya on Tuesday, reported AP. The power outage lasted from 11.30 am to 3 pm.

A statement issued by the Kenya Electricity Generation Company said that a monkey had climbed on to the roof of the Gitaru Power Station in central Kenya, fallen onto a transformer and tripped it. The company said this caused other machines in the station to trip, resulting in the loss of 180MW and triggering a national power outage. However, it was not mentioned whether the monkey survived.

The company maintained this was an isolated incident and claimed its facilities have electric fencing. The Gitaru power station is the biggest in terms of installed capacity and can serve one fifth of the country's electricity needs, as it generates 225 MW at its peak.