Saturday May 17, 02:22 AM

Game of cat and mouse blacks out city

TIRANA (Reuters) - A cat chasing a mouse in Tirana's main power station caused a 72-hour blackout across parts of the Albanian capital, the electricity company said on Friday.

"A cat and a mouse ran into the high-voltage cables," a company spokeswoman said, showing pictures of the electrocuted animals. "We took pictures because we've never had anything like this."

Albanians complain bitterly about the power cuts that have plagued them for decades, and are mostly blamed on drought and the dilapidation of the communist-era grid. Most homes and shops in Tirana rely on petrol generators.

(Reporting by Benet Koleka; Editing by Ellie Tzortzi and Kevin Liffey)