A supermarket suffered a loss of 300,000 yuan (US$36,000) when its frozen goods melted during a 30-hour power outage caused by nearby construction workers, reports Beijing Star Daily.

The power went down at about 10:30 am at the Yikelong Supermarket near the Asian Games Village. At first, market staff thought it was a routine problem and power would soon be restored.

But several hours later the market was still in the dark.

The manager eventually called the power company, which agreed to fix the problem as soon as possible.

It turned out that workers at a nearby construction site had accidentally damaged the power line, but instead of reporting the problem to police, they covered up the break with earth.

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