Major power outages have hit large parts of the Western Balkans, Montenegro's Viesti reports.
Rising demand for electricity, linked to a sharp rise in temperatures in the region, has overloaded power grids.
Temperatures in Montenegro's capital Podgorica have reached 38°C, and the country's main electricity supplier has reported that most of the Adriatic country is without power.
Montenegro's energy and mining minister, Sasha Mujovic, told local media that the power outage problem was regional in nature and related to the ongoing heatwave.
"There is a sudden increase in consumption due to high temperatures," Mujovic said.
In neighboring Croatia, large stretches of the country's coastline in southern Dalmatia were also without power, according to local media reports.
"The power outage in some parts of Croatia was caused by an international disturbance that affected several countries," Croatia's National Electricity Company (HEP) said in a statement published by state broadcaster HRT.
"HEP has put all its production capacities into full operation in order to secure Croatia's electricity supply as soon as possible," it added
In neighboring Bosnia, the capital Sarajevo was also without power, according to an AFP reporter on the scene.
"The exact cause of the power outage is not yet known, but we assume it is an overload of the interconnector," said Mideta Kurspahic, spokesman for the Electricity Company of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In Albania, Transport and Energy Ministry spokesman Florian Seriani confirmed that the lack of electricity was related to regional outages.
Man-made climate change is heating up the planet at an alarming rate, causing recurrent intense heat waves, the global scientific community agrees.
Extreme heat also increases dependence on energy-intensive air conditioning. | BGNES
