Tragedy: Man electrocuted while stealing from live transformer in Kaduna

Residents of popular Barnawa High Cost Estate in Kaduna South Council of Kaduna State woke to a gory site of a man, simply identified as Henry, in his 30s, who was electrocuted in an attempt to steal from a live transformer supplying power to a telecommunication mast.

The unlucky man was said to have cut a cable, technically called G&P, valued at N380, 000, when he met his waterloo, thereby throwing the residents into sudden blackout throughout the night.

The incident, according to residents of the area, he was working in a block industry as a security guard and at the same time providing security for the same mast he was trying to disconnect.

Lamenting the death of the young man at the scene of the incident, youth leader of Barnawa, Abdulazeez Mukhtar, described the incident as rather unfortunate and urged youths to shun all forms of social vices and criminality that could lead to their untimely death.

Area Manager of Kaduna Electric, Barnawa area office, Yahaya Sunday, hinted that the man might have been electrocuted about 11pm on Thursday, when all of a sudden there was a light out.

“We have suffered several vandalisation of our installations and most times, people tend to blame our staff for most of the theft, which is not completely correct.

“We call on the people to always pass across information to security and relevant authorities in any case of suspected movement of persons around our installations.”

However, a statement by the Head of Communication, Kaduna Electric, Abdulazeez Abdullahi, said: “A suspected vandal was electrocuted this morning (yesterday) while attempting to vandalise our transformer at Barnawa High Cost, Kaduna. “We continue to warn that tampering with electrical equipment is very dangerous and could lead to loss of life. “It is also one of the reasons why steady power supply has been unattainable. Let us work together to curb the menace of vandalism.”