In deep water: Four more electrocuted to death in Karachi

Up to four feet of rainwater stagnant inside many houses in Moosa Colony in the aftermath of rainfall on Friday

KARACHI: At least four more people, including a teenage boy and two minors, were electrocuted to death in Karachi on Saturday, a day after torrential downpour lashed the city.

According to Gulberg SHO Rafay Tanoli, two brothers, identified as  Saleem, 14, and Jamal, 11,  received electric shocks as electric current seeped into rainwater that had flooded their house in Moosa Colony. Revealing further details of the incident, he said that in the aftermath of rainfall on Friday, rainwater was standing up to four feet inside the brothers’ residence.

Drowning in apathy

Rest of the family members had vacated the house, but Saleem and Jamal remained inside, said SHO Tanoli. As a result, when the water level rose up to a switchboard installed on of the walls, electric current seeped through it and claimed the brothers’ lives, he added.

SHO Tanoli said that it is estimated that the deaths occurred sometime late in the afternoon, however, the family members came to know of the tragic incident at about 7.30 pm, when they went inside to check on the brothers. The family hailed from Sahiwal and was residing in Karachi, he said, adding that the bodies will be taken to the deceased’s ancestral town for the fulfilment of last rites. For now, the bodies have been kept in Edhi morgue.

NEPRA holds K-Electric responsible for 19 deaths

In another case of electrocution, a minor, identified as Arman, 8, died after he received electric shocks while at his house in Hijrat Colony. He was rushed to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre where doctors confirmed his death.  Meanwhile, Abdullah, 40, was electrocuted to death in Metroville IV, while he was switching on a water pumping motor. He was rushed to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where doctors confirmed his death. In the aftermath of raging rain on Friday, fatal occurrences on Saturday have increased the electrocution death toll in Karachi to six.   

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2019.