Tirana, May 17: A cat chasing a mouse in Tirana`s main power station caused a 72-hour blackout across parts of the Albanian capital, the electricity company said on Friday.

"A cat and a mouse ran into the high-voltage cables," a company spokeswoman said, showing pictures of the electrocuted animals. "We took pictures because we`ve never had anything like this."

Albanians complain bitterly about the power cuts that have plagued them for decades, and are mostly blamed on drought and the dilapidation of the communist-era grid. Most homes and shops in Tirana rely on petrol generators.