Three workers electrocuted

Three workers, including two siblings, died from electrocution while carrying out piling work on the Buriganga in the city’s Hazaribagh area yesterday.

Two other workers sustained injuries in the incident.

The dead were identified as Jhoru Sheikh, 45, and his brother Saiful Sheikh, 35, from Sirajganj, and Monjurul Haque, 40, from Bogura.

The workers were electrocuted around 11:00am when an iron pole used for piling work came into contact with a high-voltage electric wire, said Ekram Ali, officer-in-charge of Hazaribagh Police Station.

The victims were doing piling work for installing pillars to demarcate the river boundary. The three died on the spot, he added.

Locals alleged the contactor didn’t take any safety measures at the site.

The piling work is underway on the banks of the river. Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) is carrying out the work.

BIWTA officials said they awarded the contract to Standard Engineers Ltd and the company was responsible for ensuring the safety of workers.

Some locals said they heard a big bang after the iron pole came into contact with the electric wire. Panicked, some workers ran to   safety.

A little later, locals rescued the victims using a bamboo. The    injured were sent to a nearby hospital.

Asked about the incident, Nur Mohammad Sabuj, assistant manager (HR and admin) of Standard Engineers Ltd, said they hired several groups of labourers for the work and the victims were members of one those groups.

“We always made the workers’ leaders aware of safety and asked them to use safety gears…. We will talk to the victims’ families and take measures as per the company policy regarding compensations,” he told this correspondent.

BIWTA Joint Director AKM Arif Uddin said, “We should have been more careful about the safety issue… we will put pressure on the engineering farm to compensate the victims’ families.”

He said they would write to the authorities concerned to remove the electric wires dangling dangerously from electricity poles in the area.

The bodies of the victims were sent to Sir Salimullah Medical College morgue for autopsies.