A widespread power outage hit Spain and Portugal, affecting millions of people who live across Europe's Iberian Peninsula.

It is rare to have such a widespread outage across the Iberian Peninsula, with a combined population of about 60 million people.

A sweeping power outage left millions of people in Spain, Portugal and parts of France without electricity on Monday, leading to chaotic scenes and widespread disruption. A problem with the power connection between France and Spain was a contributing factor to the outage, the head of a trade body that represents Europe's power industry said.