power cut

Many of those who had been in lifts inside the stations when the power cut happened had to be freed by firefighters.

According to Metro de Santiago, the evacuation of the underground was completed 90 minutes after the power cut - but disruption caused by the outage carried on for many more hours.

Restaurants and cafes were among the businesses affected by the power cut.

Some Chileans tried to see a positive in the power cut - with several posting photos of the night sky on social media, pointing out that the lack of light pollution had made the milky way easier to see.

Maria Angelica Roman, 45, told AFP news agency: "They let us leave work because of the power cut, but now I don't know how we will get home because all the buses are full."