Six workers electrocuted in 24 hours

Seven suffered injuries in two different incidents in the city

LAHORE: Six workers were electrocuted to death and seven were injured in two different incidents across the city.

Late on Monday morning, six workers who were shifting hardware were electrocuted in Loharan Wala Khooh on Multan Road.

The victims were all residents of Darya Khan in Bhakkar district and had come to Lahore for work.

On the day of the incident, they started shifting iron rods from one place to another when they touched a piece which was in contact with high voltage electric wires passing through the street.



They suffered an electric shock and fell unconscious. The victims were admitted to a nearby hospital where the doctors pronounced three of them as dead on arrival, while as many were undergoing treatment.

The deceased victims were identified as Shakeel, Mehboob and Qaiser, all were residents of Darya Khan, Bhakar.

Rescue teams and police reached the spot and transported the injured to the hospital, while bodies were taken to the morgue.

Police also collected forensic evidence from the crime scene and informed the families of the victims.

The relatives refused to initiate any legal action and the bodies were consequently handed over for burial after completing legal formalities.

In another such incident on Sunday night, three workers lost lives during the instalment of an LED advertising board in the limits of Defence-C Police. One labourer was also injured in the incident.

The victims were identified as Muhammad Khan, Wali Muhammad and Fakhar Hayat, all were residents of Pakpattan.

The victims were working in DHA phase-8 when they suffered an electric shock and fell down before losing consciousness.



They were admitted to a nearby hospital where doctors pronounced them dead on arrival.

Police removed the bodies to the morgue and also collected forensic evidence from the crime scene.

These were not the first incidences when workers lost their lives due to poor working conditions in the city.

At least 44 workers died and over 100 were injured when a factory caved in at the Sundar Industrial Estate in 2015.

A week after this tragic incident, five workers were burnt alive when an oil tanker exploded in Haidri Steel Mill in Batapur.  Moreover, over 25 workers lost their lives during work on the Orange Line Metro Train project.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2017.