A middle-aged woman, Mrs Owonda Asobari was last Monday electrocuted in Rumueme community in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.
According to an eye-witness, the victim, who was returning from a church service alighted from a commercial tricycle (keke) at Easy Avenue / Orumina Junction and attempted to run across to the opposite side of the road when she noticed that the wire on the high tension pole she was standing under was sparking.
The source, who identified himself as Abubakar Ali told The Tide that, “I was there when it all happened. The wrongly connected wire started sparking as usual when light came. So, people started running as it became excessive.
The keke driver conveying the woman, out of  fear, abandoned the keke beside the pole and ran for safety. But unfortunately, the deceased, who was not far from the pole stood in front of a shop where she was electrocuted”.
Ali who is a security guard explained that this woman had almost escaped death but  when she saw the incessant sparks from the pole, she tried to cross over to the other side of the road and  unknown to her, a wire was disjointed, she trod on it and was shocked to death.
Some residents who spoke to our reporter blamed Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) for the death. They believed it was as a result of wrong wiring by engineers of the firm.
“This is the careless attitude of the company, because people said that they had been informed about constant sparking of the said wire each time electricity came, but nothing was done by the company to rectify the fault. Now this woman has fallen victim”, Ali said.  The corpse of the victim who is a mother is said to have been deposited in an undisclosed mortuary in Port Harcourt. When contacted, the Corporate Communications Officer of PHED, Mr Jonh Onyi, confirmed the incident. Onyi noted that it was an electrical accident and that the company had dispatched a team of  safety officers to the area and that thorough investigation was being carried out to find out the actual cause of the accident.
“The report of the investigation would be made public when completed.”
“We sincerely commiserate with the family of the victim and as a responsible corporate organisation, we are doing every thing possible to find out the cause,” he said.

Amarachi Anene and Sylvester  Onyeazor