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Mother, child electrocuted
What you need to know:
- According to Umeme (U) Ltd’s Integrated Annual Report 2016, network related fatalities are very low – there was one fatality in 2016, down from two in 2014.
- Umeme has time after time sensitised communities about the dangers of illegally tapping electricity.
A mother and her child in Kamuli District were on Thursday, October 19 electrocuted.
Minutes before it was electrocuted, the child was playing near an exposed electricity cable.
Then it started raining.
Water, in this case rain, is a conductor of electricity; it completed the circuit.
As the child screamed in pain, the mother, who was a distance away, rushed to where the child was.
It was then that she, too, was electrocuted.
The bodies of the deceased have been taken to Kamuli General Hospital for post-mortem.
When the Daily Monitor contacted electricity distributor Umeme (U) Ltd’s media manager Stephen Ilungole, he said confirmed the deaths.
“It was due to an illegal underground connection. Our team has since gone to the area to remove the illegal cables,” Mr Ilungole said.
According to Umeme (U) Ltd’s Integrated Annual Report 2016, network related fatalities are very low – there was one fatality in 2016, down from two in 2014.
Umeme has time after time sensitised communities about the dangers of illegally tapping electricity.
Relatedly, the Electricity Regulatory Authority has doubled the fines for people convicted of power theft.
Still, some individuals, who claim the retail tariffs for electricity are high, choose to tap power, thus exposing their families, especially the women and children who often have no idea where the illegal cables are.
