Hundreds of millions of people have been left without electricity in northern and eastern India after a massive power breakdown, BBC News said.

More than half the country has been left without power after three grids collapsed - one of them for the second day running.

Hundreds of trains have come to a standstill and hospitals are running on backup generators.

In eastern India, around 200 miners have been trapped underground.

They have been moved to an area where they have access to fresh air and are not in immediate danger.

In Delhi, Metro services were halted and staff evacuated trains. Some trains have started running again, although a full service is not expected for many hours.

The breakdowns in the northern, eastern, and north-eastern grids mean around 600m people have been affected.

A failure on the northern grid on Monday, July 30 caused severe disruption and travel chaos across northern India.

The power minister said some states might have been taking too much electricity.

India's demand for electricity has soared in recent years as its economy has grown but its power infrastructure has been unable to meet the growing needs.