4 electrocuted while trying to repair cable

Four locals died of electrocution yesterday morning while trying to repair a mains power cable supplying a Lalmonirhat village.

The deceased are Milton Islam, 26, son of Jonab Ali; Khorshed Alam, 38, son of Shamsuddin Miah; Ferdous Islam, 26, son of Azizar Rahman; and Ukil Hossain, 27, son of Golap Hossain.

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Kashimbazar village was left without electricity after lightning struck the cable on Tuesday night, Bhelaguri Union Parishad Chairman Mahir Uddin told The Daily Star.

The four had experience working as electricians in the union and had informed him that they were trying to reconnect the cable taking permission from Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), he said.

Two had gone up a ladder resting it against a pole while the other two were holding it from the bottom when the electricity came back on around 10:30am, leading to them dying on the spot, he said.

However, BPDB Residential Engineer Sirazul Islam said they had not authorised any such repairs and did not know of any such damage.

He said connections were switched off around 1:45am on Wednesday for a storm and turned back on in the morning.

Hatibandha Police Station Officer-in-Charge Rezaul Karim said the bodies were sent to a morgue for autopsy.

The victims' family members and villagers blame negligence of BPDB, claiming the four had good relations with BPDB officials and had worked for BPDB in the past.

Khorshed's father Shamsuddin said they had lost the lone breadwinner of a five-member family, including two schoolgoing children.

Ferdous' father Azizar said, “Our son had been working locally as an electrician for long and he was very careful during his work."

Deputy Commissioner AFM Alauddin Khan has sought a report from the upazila nirbahi officer and assured of taking steps based on it.