Accra, Oct. 19 (Ghanaian Times) -- THE Kotoka International Airport (KIA) on Wednesday evening suffered an unprecedented power outage lasting for about an hour and plunging some sections into darkness.

Stand-by generators were used in the interim to keep very essential service in operation.

The arrival and immigration halls and some offices were the worst affected but the disruption did not affect flight operations.

"We have flights coming in and out of the airport," a flight technician, who attributed it to technical hitch, told the Times.

However an official statement by the Public Affairs section of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority said the problem was caused by a faulty generating set which supplies power to the tower block.

It explained that the airport experienced power outage from the city mains from 9.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. and had to rely on its generating sets before the problem occurred.

It said the fault was corrected just about the time power from the city mains was restored at approximately 6.30 p.m. on Wednesday.

It said there were no disruptions in operations at the airport, adding, "all equipment and systems for airport operations were functioning."