A power outage left much of Venezuela in the dark early Thursday evening in what appeared to be one of the largest blackouts yet in a country where power failures have become increasingly common.
Crowds of commuters in capital city Caracas were walking home after metro service ground to a halt and traffic snarled as cars struggled to navigate intersections where stoplights were out.
State-owned electricity operator Corpoelec blamed the outage on an "attack" on the Guri Dam, one of the world's largest hydroelectric projects and the cornerstone of Venezuela's electrical grid.
"We've been targeted again in the power war," Maj. Gen. Luis Motta, President Nicolas Maduro's minister of electrical power, said in remarks aired on state television.
Pro-government officials frequently blame outages on Venezuela's opposition, accusing them of attacking power substations with Molotov cocktails, though rarely providing evidence.
Motta did not indicate how much of the nation is engulfed in the outage, though local media reported that nearly all of Venezuela was experiencing a blackout. Motto said it would take "approximately three hours" for service to be restored, though patience was already running thin Thursday evening.
In one Caracas neighborhood, residents threw up their windows and began banging on pot and pans in a sign of protest while others shouted out expletives and Maduro's name.
The outage comes as Venezuela is in the throes of a power struggle between Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido, who is recognized by about 50 nations as Venezuela's rightful president. The opposition is blaming Maduro for the country's soaring hyperinflation, food and medical shortages, while the embattled leader accuses Guaido of conspiring with the Trump administration to overthrow him from power.
Venezuela's electrical system was once the envy of Latin America but it has fallen into a state of disrepair amid years of poor maintenance and mismanagement. High-ranking officials have been accused in U.S. court proceedings of looting investments earmarked for the electrical system.
The government keeps home power bills exceptionally low — just a couple dollars a month — relying heavily on subsidies.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Search teams in Turkey on Wednesday recovered the cockpit voice and flight data recorders from a jet crash that killed eight people, including western Libya’s military chief, while efforts to retrieve the victims' remains were still underway, Turkey's interior minister said.
The private jet carrying Gen. Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad, four other military officials and three crew members crashed on Tuesday, after taking off from Turkey's capital, Ankara, killing everyone on board. Libyan officials said that the cause of the crash was a technical malfunction on the plane.
The high-level Libyan delegation was on its way back to Tripoli after holding defense talks in Ankara aimed at boosting military cooperation between the two countries.
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya told journalists at the site of the crash that wreckage was scattered across an area covering 3 square kilometers (more than a square mile), complicating recovery efforts. Authorities from the Turkish forensic medicine authority were working to recover and identify the remains, he said.
A 22-person delegation — including five family members — arrived from Libya early on Wednesday to assist in the investigation, he said.
Tripoli-based Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah confirmed the deaths on Tuesday, describing the crash on Facebook as a “tragic accident” and a “great loss” for Libya.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a telephone call with Dbeibah, during which he conveyed his condolences and expressed his sorrow over the deaths, his office said.
"An investigation has been launched into this tragic incident that has deeply saddened us, and our ministries will provide information about its progress,” Erdogan said.
Al-Hadad was the top military commander in western Libya and played a crucial role in the ongoing, U.N.-brokered efforts to unify Libya’s military, which has split, much like the nation's other institutions.
The other military officials who died in the crash were Gen. Al-Fitouri Ghraibil, the head of Libya’s ground forces, Brig. Gen. Mahmoud Al-Qatawi, who led the military manufacturing authority, Mohammed Al-Asawi Diab, adviser to the chief of staff, and Mohammed Omar Ahmed Mahjoub, a military photographer with the chief of staff’s office.
The identities of the three crew members weren't immediately released.
Turkish officials said that the Falcon 50-type business jet took off from Ankara’s Esenboga airport at 8:30 p.m. and that contact was lost around 40 minutes later. The plane notified air traffic control of an electrical fault and requested an emergency landing. The aircraft was redirected back to Esenboga, where preparations for its landing began.
The plane, however, disappeared from radar while descending for the emergency landing, the Turkish presidential communications office said.
The Libyan government declared a three-day national mourning with flags flown half-staff at all state institutions, according to an announcement on Facebook.
The wreckage was found near the village of Kesikkavak, in Haymana, a district about 70 kilometers (45 miles) south of Ankara.
Search and recovery teams intensified their operations on Wednesday after a night of heavy rain and fog, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Gendarmerie police sealed off the area while the Turkish disaster management agency, AFAD, set up a mobile coordination center. Specialized vehicles, such as tracked ambulances, were deployed because of the muddy terrain.
Turkey has assigned four prosecutors to lead the investigation, and Yerlikaya that said the Turkish search and recovery teams included 408 personnel.
Turkey's Transportation Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said the cockpit voice and flight data recorders would be sent to a neutral third country for examination, in order to ensure impartial findings on the cause of the crash.
While in Ankara, al-Haddad had met with Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler and other officials.
Libya plunged into chaos after the country’s 2011 uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The country split, with rival administrations in the east and west, backed by an array of rogue militias and foreign governments.
Turkey has been the main backer of Libya’s government in the west, but has recently taken steps to improve ties with the eastern-based government as well.
Tuesday’s visit by the Libyan delegation came a day after Turkey’s parliament approved a two-year extension of the mandate of Turkish troops serving in Libya. Turkey deployed troops following a 2019 security and military cooperation agreement that was reached between Ankara and the Tripoli-based government.
Fay Abuelgasim reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.
Turkish army soldiers stand guard as rescue teams search for the remains of a private jet carrying Libya's military chief and four others that crashed after taking off from Ankara, killing everyone on board, in Ankara, Turkey, early Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Efekan Akyuz)
Turkish rescue teams search for the remains of a private jet carrying Libya's military chief and four others that crashed after taking off from Ankara, killing everyone on board, in Ankara, Turkey, early Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Efekan Akyuz)
Turkish army soldiers stand guard as rescue teams search for the remains of a private jet carrying Libya's military chief and four others that crashed after taking off from Ankara, killing everyone on board, in Ankara, Turkey, early Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Efekan Akyuz)
Turkish rescue teams search for the remains of a private jet carrying Libya's military chief and four others that crashed after taking off from Ankara, killing everyone on board, in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Efekan Akyuz)
Turkish rescue teams search for the remains of a private jet carrying Libya's military chief and four others that crashed after taking off from Ankara, killing everyone on board, in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Efekan Akyuz)
Turkish soldiers and rescue teams search for the remains of a private jet carrying Libya's military chief and four others that crashed after taking off from Ankara, killing everyone on board, in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Efekan Akyuz)
FILE - Libya's army chief of staff Gen. Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad poses for a photo in Tripoli, Libya, Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad, File)
