4 electrocuted as rain lashes city

Victims include two children who were killed while playing in a puddle

LAHORE:

At least four people, two of them children, died of electrocution during rain in the provincial capital on Wednesday.

According to local officials, two children died of electric shock suffered while playing in rainwater near Dhobi Mohalla in Charar Pind. The victims, eight-year-old Zubair and Faizan, 12, died on the spot.

Another child, 10-year-old Salik Zaheer, was injured in the incident. He was shifted to nearby hospital for treatment.

In another incident, a man died of electrocution while walking through rainwater pooled around an electric pole.

The 28-year-old pedestrian, Ejaz Suleman, died near a market at Thokar Niaz Baig.

Meanwhile, two men suffered an electric shock while repairing a switchboard in Harbancepura near Qalandarpura bazaar.

One of the victims, Jawad Ashraf, died on the spot. His body was shifted to the Jinnah Hospital morgue for autopsy.

The injured man was shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment.

After the reported incidents, the Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) chief executive officer suspended an SDO, Tafseer Ahmed, over the death of the two children because of electric shock.

CEO Shahid Haider expressed deep sorrow over the incident, ordered a thorough investigation to identify those responsible and announced that strict action would be taken against them.

As per a LESCO spokesperson, there had been no reported incident of electrocution in Thokar Niaz Baig.

The fresh casualties raised the death toll in rain-related accidents in Lahore during July to 17. Rain during the first week of the month had claimed 13 lives in the city.

The year's first spell of monsoon rain in the city took place from July 2 to 7.

A 10-year-old child had died and four other people had been injured in two incidents of roof collapse on July 9 near Mamhood Booti and Ibrahim Colony.

A child died and eight women were injured in three incidents of roof collapse a day earlier. The incidents were reported in Kahna, Shahdara and Nishter Town.

Earlier, four people had died in three incidents of building collapse in the city. At least 16 other people had been injured.

The day of heaviest rainfall had left dead seven people, including two women and two children.

Meanwhile, a minor boy was killed while six others sustained injuries as walls and a roof caved in due to rain in three separate incidents here Wednesday. The wall of a house caved in near Chatha bridge due to rain in which 10-year-old boy Kawish Jalil was buried under debris and died.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 20^th, 2023.