Moscow Stricken By Power Outages

Widespread Blackouts Caused By Fire And Explosion At Substation

(AP) 
News reports said the power failure caused some apartment buildings to lose their water supply and forced suspension of trading on both of Moscow's stock exchanges. The Central Bank issued a statement warning that some bank transfers and ATM services may have been affected, Ekho Moskvy radio reported.

City health department spokesman Andrei Seltsovsky said at least 20 hospitals were without electricity and patients requiring emergency treatment were being moved to places that still had power or were operating on generators, according to Interfax.

Passengers were evacuated from stalled subway trains, Interfax cited system spokesman Dmitri Gaev as saying. Passengers waiting for trains were asked to leave the stations, but hundreds of people remained on the platforms, impatiently peering into the tunnels.

"Like always, they're not telling us anything," said Lena Trofimova, 44, was waiting for a bus near the Kremlin after leaving a nearby subway station.

Along Leninsky Prospekt, a major north-south thoroughfare, the sidewalks were crammed with people walking south, trying to head to their home in residential districts. Some looked confusedly at maps and others tried to board packed city buses.

Despite the stresses, there were no immediate reports of disorder and most of the affected people appeared to take the inconvenience with stoic resignation, despite unusually warm temperatures that reached near 85 Fahrenheit for a third day.

"There's no point in getting angry," said Natasha Ryzhnikova, a 21-year-old student.