SUSPECTED CABLE THIEF ELECTROCUTED

Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Sekondi
A young man last Wednesday was electrocuted in his attempt to steal high tension overhead electrical cables carrying 11,000 volts.
The said over head cables serve corporate and domestic customers in the Shama District and parts of the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis in the Western Region.
The alleged thief was found dead with a huge cutter beside him in the bush behind the Inchaban Police Check Point in the Shama District.
When the news team got to the scene of the incident, the young man who is yet to be identified had positioned a long stepladder at the neck of one of the poles where he successfully cutoff the cable.
According to the engineers, it was clear that after cutting the thief was not able to collect the cables before the system restored itself thereby killing him instantly.
According the Regional Engineer of the company, Mr Dan Acquah-Larbi, both corporate and domestic customers in these affected areas had been in the darkness about a day.
He said the activities of these cable thieves did not only affect the company financially, but also slows the wheels of industry, commerce and creates social discomfort.
He said they had had many instances where these high tension cables were stolen and the company had cough the money to restore service to customers.
Explaining how the thieves operate, he said the thieves fault the lines by throwing wire on the overhead cables to bridge it.
“If that happens, the system will trips then the lines go off to protect itself, between the times the system is restored, they then cut the cables and carry it away,” he said.
He said in the case where the young man was electrocuted, he (the cable thief) was not able to cut before system restores itself, thereby killing him instantly.
He said considering the implements and weight of the stepladder that was used, it was clear that there were other with him and that they might probably bolted after realizing that their colleague was dead.
Mr Acquah-Larbi urged members of the public to volunteer information on the operation of these people saying, when they carried the stepladder to the bush where the pole was erected somebody might have seen them.
He reminded the public that they had a civic responsibility any suspicious behavior to the police and that if power went off it was not only ECG that loses but corporate Ghana loses not to mention the social discomfort.
The regional engineer reminded the liked minded people that, the lines were carrying more than 11,000 volts and should not be tempered with.
The body of the deceased had been deposited at the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital Morgue pending identification and autopsy.