Five people were killed when a metal rod they were carrying touched a power cable in Tharmanya village, Kayin State, on Jan. 6.
On that day, a villager named Maung Par had asked three other men, including his son Khum Thein Win, to help him move a 32-foot-long rod they were using as a makeshift mobile phone tower. While they were moving the heavy rod, the men accidentally let it touch a power cable that was attached to a nearby utility pole. The cable sent strong currents of electricity through the rod and into the men’s bodies, killing them instantly.
When Maung Par’s wife saw her husband’s body burning, she threw water onto him and was electrocuted herself.
A witness named Kum Anaing told Eleven: “It’s a tragedy that they died in a moment. The victims included a young man who was soon to be married and his parents. The rod was so heavy that they accidentally dropped it on a power distribution cable.”
A local charity sent the bodies of the five victims to Hpa-an General Hospital.
Police are investigating the case.
Accidental electrocutions are relatively common in Myanmar, where public power is distributed by old and poorly maintained equipment. Six people were killed by faulty electrical equipment in a two-month period in 2016, and in August 2017, a dental student was electrocuted by faulty wiring in his shower handset.
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