by Oge Okonkwo

A middle-aged man is said to have been electrocuted by a  naked cable that fell in front of a church in Ebonyi.

According to an eyewitness who spoke to journalists, the deceased, a beggar, was electrocuted while  trying to move the cable with a stick.

It was gathered that the tragedyoccurred when the victim attempted to clear the place where he stayed to beg for alms.

Leadership reports:

He explained that there is a distribution transformer in front of the church where the beggars usually stay and one of the overhead cables snapped and was lying there.

“One of the naked cables fell off the pole and the authorities were yet to fix it after several reports to the office,’’ he said.

“This incident was caused by negligence and lack of rapid response by the electricity company,’’ Chukwu added.

Efforts to contact the public relations officer of the state police command, Mr Sylvester Igbo, were not successful as he was said to be attending a management meeting and switched off his mobile phones.

Meanwhile, the Senior Manager in-charge of distribution at the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, Mr Christopher Onwudiwe who confirmed the incident, described it as unfortunate.

He said some officials of the company had been dispatched to the area to fix the cable.

“It is very unfortunate that the life of an innocent Nigerian is involved in this incident. The management sympathizes with the family of the deceased while also wishing the dead peaceful repose,’’ Onwudiwe added.