Darkness descends on Columbia

Columbia fell into darkness on Thursday as a blackout hit more than 80 per cent of the country's 42 million population.

The stock exchange was forced to suspend trading and fire-fighters set out to rescue at least ten people trapped in lifts.

Large numbers of police took to the streets to direct traffic at intersections where 10,000 stop lights stopped working.

The power failure hit at 1015 local time (1515 GMT).

Manuel Maiguashca, vice minister of energy and mines, told reporters "The blackout was caused by a failure at an energy substation in northern Bogota.

"We do not know what type of failure it was," he added.

President Alvaro Uribe told local radio: "It appears to have affected all of the country."

Left-wing rebels have previously bombed oil pipelines and electricity installations in a four decade fight to overthrow the government.

But this power cut was not caused by a left-wing rebel attack, according to an official.