A prolonged power outage has plunged thousands of residents of Saint Martin's Island in Teknaf upazila of Cox's Bazar into darkness, leaving the islanders struggling without electricity since Friday evening.
Blue Marine Energy Limited, the island’s power provider, attributed the outage to a technical issue with the token recharge software server of the solar projects managed by Scoop Technology Limited in Bangladesh.
In a statement, Blue Marine said software programmers from China and Bangladesh are collaborating to resolve the issue and apologized for the inconvenience.
Saint Martin’s resident Abdul Malek described the impact, saying: "The island feels like it’s in an ICU. We have been without power since evening, fishing in the sea has stopped, tourists are prohibited, shipping is halted, and even the hospital is closed. All means of livelihood are shut down."
Another resident, Jasim Uddin Shubo, added: "The entire island has been in darkness with no way to charge mobile phones. If this continues, we’ll lose all communication. To get by, we are charging batteries using diesel-powered generators.”
Local resident Abdur Rahman echoed the distress, saying: “We are truly in hardship. With no power and no income, we feel suffocated. We urge the country to support us and help the islanders survive this ordeal.”