Most residents had power restored by midnight but the situation remained unstable. President Gabriel Boric blamed power companies for not acting faster.

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Electricity providers across Chile scrambled to restore service Tuesday after a sweeping blackout plunged 90% of the country into darkness, stranding commuters, knocking cell service offline and paralyzing businesses and daily life.

A large power outage struck vast swaths of Chile on Tuesday, interrupting mining operations in the world's biggest copper producer and leaving residents of Santiago without electricity. Areas from the mining-intensive north to the central and southern regions that are home to most of the population,