A 23-year-old male technician died instantly while his two co-workers remain in critical condition after an accidental electrocution while setting up a roadside solar street light in Barangay Libertad, Surallah, South Cotabato, on Thursday, October 23.
Employees of the Surallah Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office and officials of the Police Regional Office-12 told reporters on Friday, October 24, that the fatality, identified only as Ian at the request of his family, and his two companions were electrocuted when the tip of a galvanized metal pipe they were setting up as a post for the solar street light hit a dangling high-tension power line of the South Cotabato Electric Cooperative.
Barangay officials and investigators from the Surallah municipal police said Ian died instantly, while his co-workers, Roberto, 51, and Rafael, 37, were badly injured.
The two, who sustained burns and contusions in different parts of their bodies, are now confined in a hospital undergoing extensive medical treatment.
The office of South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo has assured assistance to Ian’s family in Banga town, not far from Surallah, in facilitating his burial.