An 11-year old Junior Secondary School student of Government Secondary School, State Housing Estate, Calabar, (name withheld) was this afternoon electrocuted, throwing the school into mourning and a mild protest that threatened motorists and other members of the public, using Atekong Drive, Calabar, www.calitown.com can reveal.
The boy, we gathered, who just resumed in school this past Wednesday, was herded out of class with other students to pick up pieces of papers by the school fence. “While they were picking up the pieces of paper around that electric pole, he accidentally came in contact with a hidden rod at the base of the pole which electrocuted him”, a student of the school who did not want his name in print, told www.calitown.com. Policemen from the State Housing Police Station who were called in, promptly responded and took the corpse of the deceased away to the morgue.
We discovered in the course of our investigation into this tragic incident that the electric pole in question belonging to Power Holdings Company of Nigeria, PHCN, appear to have been powered without proper insulation in place. On close examination www.calitown.com could point to the fact that the short rod that killed the deceased was cast in the pole, running from the top to the base. Poor electrical insulation from the top of the pole where the high tension lines ran, current leaked into the rod, running down all this while until this fateful incident.
At No. 6 School Road, State Housing Estate, Calabar, two poles from the scene of this incident, residents of the area showed www.calitown.com another tragedy waiting to happen; another electric pole dangerously bent to the ground. “We have written to PHCN and drawn their attention to the bent pole and dangling electric wires but PHCN as you can see, have done nothing and this is not only sad but it is also frightening. Please let PHCN come and avert this disaster waiting to happen. Sadly too, it has taken the loss of this young boy’s life for people out there to understand that infrastructure must be maintained. I am saddened”, Kammonke Abam, a resident of the area told www.calitown.com.
The Principal of the school was not available for comments as we were informed that she was helping the police with investigations.