A man was killed and three members of his household also got severely injured as an 11,000-volt wire fell on them when they were sleeping on the roof of their house in Dhanbad district of Jharkhand, police stated.
The man who died was identified as Sohel Ansari. Police further stated that the incident happened at midnight in the Pandarpala area of Dhanbad district.
Injured people sent to hospital
The other three members were Sohel Ansari’s mother Shamida Khatoon, and brothers Shahnawaj and Shahwaj who were critically injured due to the high voltage wire and later they were admitted to the Shahid Nirmal Mahto Medical College and Hospital with severe burn injuries, police stated.
“The body has been sent for post-mortem,” a police officer said.
Locals give complaint to remove the high voltage wire
Locals claimed that it’s been years that they have been complaining to the electricity department to remove the high-voltage wire as it crosses over several houses in the area.
A senior official of Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Ltd said that they are working on the process to shift the poles where high-voltage electric wires are crossing over houses.
Number of deaths due to electrical accidents increasing
In the last years, 2018-19 reported the highest number of electrical accidents.
According to statistics from the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom), 172 accidents were reported in 2018-19, up from 138 in 2017-18. The fatalities were highest in 2018-19: 128, up from 104 the previous year. This financial year (from April to mid-May) has already seen 16 accidents being reported.
Bescom Managing Director C. Shikha said, “the higher number of accidents reported over the years is because of timely and improved reporting of electrocution cases by field officers”.
