A tragic incident occurred in the Mgboaba/NTA area of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State when a young man attempted to steal an armoured cable from a transformer. The unidentified thief was electrocuted when the power supply was restored, resulting in severe burns to his body.
The attempted theft took place at around 3 am on Thursday, during a blackout in the area. However, when the power supply was restored, the man was trapped and electrocuted.
Eyewitnesses described the scene as chaotic, with one eyewitness stating that the transformer sparked with a loud sound at around 3 am. “We thought it was the normal sound we hear sometimes,” they said. However, when they heard that someone had died inside the transformer, they went to investigate and found the man’s body severely burnt.
The eyewitnesses also identified the man as a local water vendor who was well-known in the area. The police and officials from the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company were notified of the incident and removed the man’s remains.
The state police command spokesperson, Grace Iringe-Koko, was contacted for comment but had not responded by the time of filing this report.
