High tension wires

Omon-Julius Onabu   and Segun James 

Tragedy struck at the flood victims’ camp in Warri, the Delta State capital, as three persons were reportedly electrocuted at the Cavergina Primary School Warri rehabilitation camp for the internally displaced persons (IDPs).

This came as five persons including a nursing mother, her three months old baby and another daughter said to be about four years were among about 10 persons who got drowned at Akenfa area of Yenagoa when two makeshift canoes collided while crossing the Epie creek in the state capital.

Also said to have drowned was a mechanic and his friend, a panel beater whose workshop is across the road from where they drowned. They were said to be going to buy a python that was killed as a result of the flood.

The Warri incident was said to have occurred at about 7pm on Friday when an overhead Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) high-tension wire suddenly sparked, got detached from the pole and fell on the ground.

A portion of the cable fell on several persons reclining near the school (camp) gate leading to the electrocution, eye-witness account said.
Some nearby residents claimed that the electric cable had been faulty for some time before the weekend tragedy but was apparently attended to by the authorities concerned at the PHCN.

The Delta State Police Command spokesman, Mr. Charles Muka, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), who confirmed the report, described the incident as an accident. But the leader of a pressure group, the National President of Ijaw Peoples Development Initiative, Mr. Austin Ozobo, said that the PHCN must accept blame for “the needless deaths due to negligence by PHCN” and should be held responsible.