Jamshedpur, May 13: Tragedy struck in the city when a father and son got electrocuted while trimming a tree in front of their house just below a high-tension power line at Samta Nagar under Mango police station area on Friday morning.
An elderly neighbor, who rushed to save the duo, was also critically injured in the mishap and has been admitted at the Tata Main Hospital.
The victims identified as Sudhir Nayak (55) and Sagar Nayak (32). The injured neighbor was identified as Santosh Sahu (65).
The incident took place at about 7.30 a.m. when Sudhir, who worked as a supervisor in a construction company, climbed on a tree to trim its branches was about to touch a 33 KVA line that was passing near it. As the father was cutting the branches, son was extending a helping hand by removing the fallen branches.
According to sources, while falling down, the branch came in contact with the high-tension line, electrocuting Sudhir, who was still on the tree.
�It is really a shocking incident. After the father was electrocuted, his body got upside down and remained stuck in tree. Thinking that his father will fall down, son ran to him and touched the tree to bring him down and also got electrocuted. A high voltage of power was running in the tree,” said a local resident.
Witnessing the mishap, an elderly man, Santosh Sahu rushed to save the duo, but before reaching the two electrocuted victims, he too was partially electrocuted. He had stepped on a tin lying at a little distance of the electrocuted tree.
The anxious neighbors removed Sudhir and his son by using a stick and rushed all the three to the MGM Medical College and Hospital emergency, where the doctors declared father and son as brought dead. As condition of Sahu was critical, the doctors on emergency duty referred him to the Tata Main Hospital.
Originally hailing from Mayurbhanj district in Odisha, Sudhir had constructed his house at Samta Nagar 15 years ago.
“We are in state of shock. My father was concerned the high-tension line that passes from near our house may cause serious mishap. This was the reason that he was getting the tree trimmed as today was his off day,” said Laxmi Nayak, Sudhir’s elder daughter.
Sagar Nayak, who was father of two minor sons, would drive LPG cylinder-carrier for a local gas agency and was about to leave for his duty at 9 a.m., before the mishap struck.
Later, residents of Samta Nagar created ruckus at the MGM Medical College and Hospital expressing their anger over the callousness of the Jharkhand Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (JUVNL). The JUVNA was responsible for laying the power transmission line at a low height.
The residents set up a blockade by putting the electrocution victims’ bodies on the NH-33 near Pardih, demanding compensation to the electrocution victims’ families and also immediately rectification in the transmission line.
The blockade which started at 11 a.m. was lifted at 2 pm after senior officials of the JUVNL assured the protestors at the blockade spot that the victims’ families will be paid Rs 2 lakh for the each death.
Officer-in-charge of Mango police station, Fulan Nath said that the bodies were being sent to the MGM Medical College mortuary for post-mortem.
An official of JUVNL, Jamshedpur division, said the height for the 33 KVA line should be 18 feet, which the power board had maintained when it drew the transmission line.
“But a number of housing colonies came up in the area and eventually the land was filled for house construction, causing the distance between the power line and the ground level to reduce.�