HONOLULU (KHON2) -- An arc flash inside a manhole set back repair efforts in Chinatown on Wednesday evening leaving 3,000 customers without power.
Four HECO technicians were inside the manhole during the incident; none of them were injured.
According to HECO, they were forced to shut off power at about 10:30 p.m.
As of Thursday morning, they have restored power to 2,400 customers. Six-hundred Chinatown customers are still out of power.
The issue stemmed, initially, from an electrical issue that resulted in a fire in a manhole in the Bethel Street area on Monday.
Equipment in the manhole was affected by the explosion and inspection found that all the cables in that area were burned.
Wednesday morning one of the new splices arced causing the power to go out again.
HECO said in a news conference that the current system was installed in the 50s into the 60s and are connected by manholes.