4 die of electrocution as Karachi receives rain for third day

KARACHI: As many as four people died of electrocution in different localities of Karachi on Wednesday, police, rescue services and hospital officials said, as parts of the city received monsoon rains for the third day. The power outages during the rain has perturbed the Karachiites while the water supply system has also collapsed.

Mohammed Rafiq, 50, was riding a motorcycle when an electric wire fell on him on Habib Rehmatullah Road popularly known as Stadium Road near Kingri House. He died on the spot. The body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) to fulfil legal formalities.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Haleem Adil Shaikh held K-Electric responsible for Rafiq's death, announcing that he would get a first information report registered against the power utility. He claimed that the wire fell down after a short circuit. Shaikh, who visited the spot, observed that KE had not removed the live wire even though two-and-a-half hours had passed.

In a tweet, the KE said it was "aware of an unfortunate incident near Karsaz, Karachi". "We are urgently looking into details and investigating. K-Electric's relevant teams have already been mobilised," it said, later announcing that the concerned officer had been suspended over the incident.

Meanwhile, talking to media at the JPMC, PTI lawmaker Khurram Sher Zaman said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had taken notice of the PTI's protest against the "atrocities" of KE and had called the opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly to Islamabad on Thursday. The PTI’s Karachi chapter had announced earlier this week that its leaders would stage a symbolic sit-in daily at their protest camp outside the KE head office. Among the other deaths reported in the city today, an 80-year-old man, identified as Sher Dil, died when he suffered an electric shock inside his home in Hijrat Colony in the limits of Civil Lines police, according to Dr Seemin Jamali, executive director of the JPMC. His son brought his body to the hospital in a rickshaw.

In Federal B Area Block-4 near Karimabad, a labourer, 49-year-old Mirza Rehman died of electrocution while working, an Edhi Foundation spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, 70- year-old Asghar Khan died after suffering an electric shock inside his home located in Sheet No. 12 of Model Colony. On Tuesday, two teenage friends had died of electrocution in Old Golimar area.