11-Year-Old Boy Electrocuted by Illegal Electricity Connection in Orange Farm
An 11 year-old boy has died after he was electrocuted with an illegal electricity connection in the Tjovitjo informal settlement in Orange Farm.
It is understood a group of boys were allegedly swimming in a pool of water next to the railway line on Tuesday when one of them made contact with open wires on the ground.
The incident is under investigation by Eskom and the South African Police Service (SAPS).
Eskom’s Sikonathi Mantshantsha says the victims brother is alleged to have carried the victim’s body to the Golden Highway where the Gauteng Emergency Services (GES) found and declared him dead on the scene.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of this 11 year-old boy and we extend our sincere condolences to the family of the deceased. It is most concerning to us that it is often children who fall victim to these unscrupulous acts of criminality where cables are openly laid along the ground to steal electricity. Illegal connections are totally unsafe as they do not only risk injury to those conducting them, but also to others in the same vicinity.”
Mantshantsha says Eskom has disconnected the wires that were illegally connected to the transformer supplying electricity to a neighbouring school, and they are working in partnership with the police and other law enforcement agencies to remove these illegal connections in the area.
