Chile has declared a state of emergency after a nationwide power cut left 19million people in darkness.

A curfew has been enforced across much of the country, including in the capital Santiago, until 6am on Wednesday morning. 

The power outage affected 98% of the population, leading to widespread disruptions. Streetlights went out, causing traffic chaos, and subway trains came to a halt.

Terrified passengers also had to be rescued from a rollercoaster stuck in midair. 

The Santiago metro, which transports millions of passengers, was closed and passengers were evacuated from stalled trains.

‘There’s nothing. There’s no cash. No money. Nothing,’ said Jose Luis Orlandini, who was eating in downtown Santiago when the outage hit.

The agency in charge of Chile’s power grid said the power cut was caused by a disconnection in the transmission system in the Norte Chico region. 

The Interior Ministry said it was deploying the armed forces across the country to help maintain order.

Interior Minister Carolina Toha announced a curfew from 10 pm to 6 am during a press conference on Tuesday night to manage the situation.

People leave the amphitheatre of the International Song Festival after the suspension of the performance during a blackout in Vina del Mar, Chile

People sit inside a restaurant in Santiago, the capital of Chile, that was affected by Tuesday afternoon’s nationwide power outage

The blackout affected the northern Arica and Parinacota regions to the southern Los Lagos region.

It was first reported at 3:15pm local time in several parts of the country and left about 98.5 percent of the population without electricity.  

At least 582,430 people were without power around the Santiago metropolitan region, the Electricity and Fuels Superintendent said.

Officials also said that 328,488 customers in Los Lagos and another 161,843 residents in Los Ríos also did not have power.

Several cities reported the return of power by 5pm local time, according to local broadcasters.

Tohá announced that an emergency meeting was scheduled with the Disaster Risk Management Committees.

In response to the blackout affecting regions from Arica and Parinacota to Los Lagos, National Disaster Risk Management Committees will convene urgently to implement emergency measures and work on restoring power, as stated by Carolina Toha in a social media post.

Tohá added during a press conference that residents should exercise patience while the government worked to restore power.

‘I call for calm, to understand that it is a failure in the system, that we are not the object of an attack, that the service should be restored promptly,’ she said. 

Police officers direct the traffic during a blackout in Vina del Mar, Chile

People stand outside buildings after a large power outage struck vast swaths of Chile on Tuesday

A man walks in a parking garage during a power outage, in Santiago, Chile on Tuesday

People leave the amphitheatre of the International Song Festival after the suspension of the performance during a blackout in Vina del Mar, Chile

The subway service in the capital, Santiago, where millions of passengers are served, was shut down by 3:20pm.

The outage also caused streets lights to stop working and led to chaos on the roads, including a crash between a mini van and a car that left four people injured in Santiago.

The lack of train service also had residents scrambling for ways to return to their homes as buses were filled to a capacity.

People reported taxis and Uber had hiked their prices as a result of the national emergency.

Transportation Minister Juan Carlos Múñoz said that at least 4,500 diesel-fueled would be on the road in Santiago Wednesday morning if electricity was not restored.

Santiago’s Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport, the nation’s largest, was operating normally.

Latam Airlines said in a statement ‘that due to the interruption of the power supply in a large part of Chile, some of our flights could be affected.’ It urged passengers to check their flight status online.

The power failure was first reported at 3:15pm local time in several parts of the country and left about 98.5 percent of the population without electricity 

Workers from the local electricity company inspect the power lines during a blackout in the Chilean resort city of Viña del Mar

Pedestrians rest on the lawn outside La Moneda Palace in Santiago while the Chilean capital city dealt with the effects of Tuesday’s power outage

Train station staff provide information to customers in Viña del Mar, which was left in the dark following Tuesday’s blackout

Residents crowded the flatbed of a pickup truck to move around in Santiago, the capital of Chile

Escondida, the world’s largest copper mine, was without electricity, a source told Reuters.

Antofagasta, a copper mining group, said it was operating its mines with a backup power generator.

The blackout left several passengers stuck on a roller coaster as the ride was about to descend down the tracks at Fantasilandia, an amusement park in Santiago.

The park’s management told CNN Chile that backup generators were deployed in order to restore service and remove the customers.