13th February, 2015
Jethro Ibileke/Asaba
Tragedy struck on Wednesday night in Asaba, capital of Delta state, when a 35 year-old staff of Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), identified as Bright Ekene Abunwaeze, was electrocuted.
It was gathered that the deceased met his untimely death while attempting to fix an apparently faulty 450 KVA high tension wire on Nnebisi road service unit Asaba.
An eyewitnesses who declined to be named, reported that the late BEDC worker arrived at the scene of the incident in a Hilux van with two other members of staff of the company at about 8:00 p.m., to effect repairers on the high tension line.
“We saw 3 BEDC staff when they came with a Hilux van at about 8:00 pm and started climbing up that night. We were wondering how they were working at that time. A few minutes after, we saw light sparking at the top of the pole where the man was working on. The man was shocked and hanged on the pole for a while, but he later fell down. His hand was burnt and smoke was coming out from his nose and ear. Eventually his head bursted,” the eyewitness reported.
It was learnt that his two other colleagues upon seeing what happened, took to their heels.
The Asaba Business District Public Relation Officer of the company, Mrs. Esther Okolie, who confirmed the incident, described the death of the deceased as a big loss to the company, adding that, the deceased was one of their best and most dedicated staff.
Mrs. Okolie stated that investigation was ongoing to unravel how a high tension wire that was without current could electrocute the staff.