MAN ELETROCUTED IN TAKORADI (PAGE 29)

Exposed electricity cables of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) which hang over the Whin River in the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis, electrocuted an unidentified young man who was crossing the river on foot in the early hours of Wednesday.
The pole carrying the cables are weak, have fallen halfway and the cables are hanging loosely to the knee level and just a little above the river.
The water level in the river has reduced considerably and therefore individuals prefer to wade through the water to the other side instead of using the weak footbridge over the river.
According to some fishermen, the cables had been hanging loosely for some time now but they did not know whose responsibility it was to remedy the situation.
Officials of the ECG who went to the scene, said they were not aware that the cables had dropped that low; neither did they receive any signal in their signal room that somebody had been electrocuted.
The victim had a cut on the right eye and also sustained some burns on his head after he came into contact with the bare cables.
The police retrieved a mobile phone, a New Testament Bible, a bottle of mineral water and a book in a bag from the victim who was dressed in shorts made from African wax print, a blue T-shirt and a pair of bathroom slippers.
When the police went to the scene to retrieve the body, which was lying face down in the sand in the middle of the river under the cables, blood was oozing from his eye and the burnt part of the head.
Interestingly, the cables ended at the other side of the river without extending to Amanfokuma, the nearby community.
Some people who were crossing the river and using the weak and dangerous footbridge, said it would have been more disastrous if the water level in the river had been higher or if it had rained heavily.
“We don’t fish in this river on Wednesdays; we allow the river to rest, according to our customs and tradition, therefore, if it were to be any other day, we would have prompted him about the danger,” they said.
Asked why the victim did not use the weak footbridge, the fishermen said there were two bridges over the river and that he might have been heading towards the second bridge to cross from that end since the water level was very low.
Some residents of Beach-Road near the Whin River said they had been seeing the victim who was yet to be identified, passing through the community to an unknown destination.
“We saw him this morning passing and we even complained that he was passing while talking on the phone without acknowledging [the presence of] anybody,” the residents said.
The body has since been conveyed to the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital, awaiting autopsy.