Dubai Mall engulfed in darkness for nearly two hours; watch videos

Dubai Mall was plunged into darkness on Monday evening for nearly two hours after experiencing a power cut.

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority said the outage was caused by a problem with a cable at Dubai Mall Metro Station.

According to photos posted on social media, hundreds of shoppers were forced to wander the mall in the dark. Lights went out and escalators stopped working at about 7.15pm local time.

At just before 9.15pm, Dubai Media, which initially announced the power outage, said the power had been restored.

The Dubai Mall issued a statement saying it regretted the inconvenience caused to shoppers and thanking them for their patience.

One Twitter user said earlier that shoppers were using the flashlight on their phones to navigate around the mall.

Another said: "Power still out, almost an hour now. No announcements from security or management. Very poor."

DEWA issued a statment on social media saying the outage 'happed due to a transfer of high voltage cables from Dubai Mall sub station, based on a request by Emaar.... During the transfer, the outage happened, as one line went out of service'.