The Nation Newspaper

Tag: electrocuted

  • Man electrocuted at Isolo

    A middle-aged man has been electrocuted in Jakande near Oke Afa Isolo in Lagos.

    An eyewitness, who gave her name as Medinah said the man and two others wanted to use a stick to raise an electric cable because of the height of the container they were conveying on a trailer marked BFG298XD.

    She said: “It threw him and he hit his head on a pavement. As he tried to escape, his leg got stuck in the trailer”.

    Lagos State Fire Service Director Razak Fadipe Director said the man’s head hit the cable when he climbed the trailer.

  • UNILAG student electrocuted

    UNILAG student electrocuted

    University of Lagos (UNILAG) students took to the streets yesterday following Tuesday’s electrocution of their colleague.

    Miss Oluchi Anekwe, a 300-level Accounting student, was electrocuted when a high-tension cable fell on her at the entrance of New Hall, a female hostel.

    She was returning from a lecture.

    The late Oluchi was described as a brilliant student, who could graduate with a First Class, because of her high Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA).

    Eye witnesses said Oluchi died on the spot, because help did not come on time. The school’s fire fighters evacuated her body from the scene.

    The cable was said to have dropped from a pole close to the hostel and fallen on the late Oluchi, who was walking into the hostel at the time.

    The protesters, led by the Students Union Government (SUG) leaders, moved to the Administrative Building, demanding to see the Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Rahamon Bello. But, he was not around.

    All efforts by top management officials to pacify the students failed as they insisted on seeing the VC.

    Convinced that the VC was not around, the students went to the office of Dean, Students’ Affairs (DSA), Prof Tunde Babawale, who pleaded with them to return to their hostels.

    [ad id=”403656″]The students accused the management of negligence, saying the cable had sparked severally in the last two weeks.

    Matthew Banjo, a student of Faculty of Science, said: “This shows how insensitive the management can be on issues affecting students’ wellbeing. Members of the management cannot claim they did not have knowledge of the electrical sparks in the last two weeks. Yet, nothing was done because students are living in the hostels. Now, see what their negligence has caused.”

    A 200-Level Mathematics student, Michael Osinuga, said all cables in the hostel and academic areas were run underground except those at the New Hall.

    “We want the school to ensure the cables are run underground,” he said.

    The students regrouped at the school main gate, barricading it to draw attention to the incident.

    Addressing them later at the Amphitheatre, Prof Bello described the incident as unfortunate, saying the management had commiserated with the bereaved family.

    According to the VC, the cable did not transmit electricity to the school hostel but served the nearby Onike.

    He said: “We have written letters to the management of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc (EKEDC) that owns those cables to run them underground, but they did not comply. Because of this unfortunate incident, we will not allow further power transmission power through the bad cables to prevent another tragedy.”

    The Public Relations Officer, Mr Goke Oke, in a statement, said the management had paid a condolence visit to the bereaved family.

    Oke said the management had instructed the electrical company to de-energise the cable immediately to prevent another tragedy.

  • 13-year old boy electrocuted in Kano

    A 13-year old boy, Bashir Auwalu, has been electrocuted at Naibawa Quarters in Kano.

    The incident, which triggered a protest among the residents, occurred at 5.30am last Sunday at 842, Naibawa Tsakia Quarters in Kumbotso Local Government Area.

    Eyewitnesses said the boy stepped on a live wire in front of his father’s house when he was preparing for the Muslim early morning prayers (Subuhi).

    It was learnt that Bashir suffered multiple shocks from the live fire.

    He was reportedly found dead by his father when he was returning home from the nearby mosque.

    The boy’s father, Auwalu Kwaram, 49, said: “Bashir chose to ease himself outside, while our rest room was occupied, to beat time for prayers.”

    The distraught father explained that Bashir’s “death was one of the many trials from the Almighty and it occurred in fulfilment with destiny”.

    In tears, Kwaram said: “We are from God and unto Him shall we return at appointed times. After all, we are living to die.”

    The Assistant General Manager of Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO), Mukhtar Baffa, described the incident as “unfortunate”.

    He said: “It might not be unconnected with illegal connection.”

    The KEDCO chief said the firm had begun public enlightenment campaign on the danger of illegal connection.

    Bafa added that the unwholesome practice constituted a danger to life and normal distribution of power.

    Police spokesman Magaji Musa Majia, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), said the command was not aware of the incident.

  • Two electrocuted in Ogun

    A policeman, Mr. Sunday Joseph and his ward, Moses (17), have been electrocuted in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

    The incident occurred at a construction site at Isale-Igbein on Sunday.

    Sources said Joseph had been Moses’ guardian since the boy’s father (a policeman) died.

    They said Moses went to the site to scavenge for scraps and other steel materials from the rubble of demolished structures.

    It was learnt that when he was about to go home, some of the steel materials touched a life wire from an electricity pole. He was electrocuted.

    It was gathered that when Joseph heard of the incident, he rushed to the scene and touched the boy’s body, which was still in contact with the wire.

    Sources said he died after a few minutes.

    Police spokesman Olumuyiwa Adejobi confirmed the incident.

    The Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Taiwo Adeoluwa, and a delegation headed by the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor, Patrick Akinduro, visited the victims’ family at the police barracks and assured them of the government’s assistance.

    The Public Affairs Manager of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Mr. Richard Oyewole, told reporters that the incident was not caused by the company’s negligence as being speculated in some quarters.

    He said: “When construction companies want to work in an area, they request for outage. But yesterday, being Sunday, no outage permit was granted by our company. We are investigating the issue and would make an announcement later.”

  • PHCN official electrocuted in Osun forest

    An official of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) has been electrocuted in a forest in Osun State.

    It was learnt that the deceased and other PHCN workers were trying to identify the cause of power outage in some parts of Ondo and Ekiti states when the incident occurred.

    PHCN engineers are yet to identify the cause of the eight-day old power outage.

    A source said the PHCN team spent the weekend in a forest between Erin-Ijesa in Osun State and the boundary towns of Ikeji-Arakeji and Owena in Ondo State, trying to identify the fault.

    An Akure engineer, Mr. Adewale Oketade, blamed the worker’s death on the management of the PHCN.

    Oketade said it was dangerous for engineers to work on power lines because the larger parts of the installations were built in forests, which have difficult terrains.

    He said air surveillance should be used for the easy detection of faults.

    PHCN spokesman, Akure Business Office, Mr. Adegoke Ademola confirmed the death.

    Ademola said PHCN engineers were still working on the power lines in the forest. He said electricity would be restored in the affected areas before the week runs out.

  • PHCN official electrocuted in Ado-Ekiti

    An official of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Mr. Samuel Isaac, was yesterday electrocuted in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.

    Isaac was working on an electric cable at Satellite Junction on NTA Road when the incident occurred.

    Residents wept at the sight of the body, which was stuck on the high tension pole.

    It was learnt that the deceased, who appeared to be middle-aged, was a graduate of Electrical/Electronics Engineering from the Osun State College of Technology, Esa-Oke.

    An eyewitness said a cable got detached while Isaac was working on a 33KVA high tension cable and it fell on him, killing him instantly.

    His charred remains were deposited at the mortuary of the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti.

    Ekiti PHCN spokesman Mr. Kayode Brown said the victim and other PHCN staff were in the area to correct some faults that had caused power outage. Brown said he was shocked by the incident because the late Isaac was experienced in the job and had been working with the company since for years.

    He said: “We have to get to the root of this matter because back-feeding cases are very rare while working on high tension cables. Nobody uses generator that could warrant such situation, so we are at a loss about the cause of his death.”

    Ado-Ekiti Local Government Chairman Sunday Ibitoye, who was one of the early callers at the scene of the incident, described the situation as unfortunate.

  • Suspected burglar electrocuted in Ebonyi

    A middle-aged man was yesterday electrocuted in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.

    The police said the man was trying to break into a grocery store, when the incident occurred.

    Police spokesman Sylvester Igbo said: “This morning, we received information that a burglar broke into a shop at No. 22, Ezza Road. When he went into the ceiling, there was no electricity. Power was restored while he was still up there and he was electrocuted.

    “When the owner of the shop got there this morning and saw that the shop’s doors were damaged, she alerted the police, who discovered the body in the ceiling.

    “The body is yet to be identified and has been deposited at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki (FETHA). The police have started investigating the incident to unravel what happened, if the deceased had accomplices and how many people were with him”

    The owner of the shop, Mrs. Chukwu Virtue, said: “I have lost over N1.8 million to burglars. This is the eighth time burglars are coming to my shop.

    “This morning, my brother came to the shop and discovered that the padlock had been cut and the roof of my neighbour’s shop had been broken. We alerted the police and the man in the roof was confirmed dead.”

    Igbo said two suspected robbers; Friday Emeba and Emeka Iwuoha were arrested on the Enugu-Abakaliki Expressway.

    He said two locally made double-barrelled pistols, a vehicle number plate, two live cartridges, one chisel hammer and two handsets were recovered from the suspects.