(Trinidad Express) MINUTES after offering prayers at his home in Penal yesterday, Ramnath Ramlochan was electrocuted when the bamboo jhandi (Hindu prayer flag) he was installing came into contact with an overhead electrical wire.
Ramlochan, 57, a taxi-driver, collapsed and died near the prayer room in the front yard of his home, at SS Erin Road, Charlo Village.
Ramlochan and his wife Sumintra were to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary in a few weeks, she said.
Sumintra told the Express that she was at her mother’s house located nearby, but she knew that her husband and a pundit had done a puja (Hindu prayers) around 2 p.m.
“I heard something like a firecracker. My neighbour called out and told me my husband fell down. The pundit left. We called the ambulance and police, but he was already dead,” she said.
“It seemed that he was carrying the jhandi and it touched the wire. I saw a piece of metal where his foot was, so maybe he touched that.”
Sumintra said about two years ago her husband was warned by officials of the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) about a shed he had with galvanise sheets where the jhandis were installed.
However, Ramlochan did not heed the warning, the wife said.
A district medical officer examined the body and instructed an autopsy be done.
Officers of Penal Police Station responded and are investigating.
In a news release, T&TEC advised the public to exercise vigilance when working near overhead electrical lines.
“T&TEC has launched an investigation into the death of a member of the public, by electrocution. Initial reports indicate that around 2 p.m. today, Ramdath Ramlochan, of SS Erin Road, Charlo Village, Penal, was moving a tall bamboo pole on his property when the bamboo made contact with T&TEC’s 132 kV transmission line and he fell to the ground. A witness informed his relatives, who then contacted the police. He was later pronounced dead on the site by the district medical officer,” the release stated.
“Senior officials and estate police from T&TEC visited the scene and expressed sympathy to Mr Ramlochan’s relatives. Injury to members of the public under such circumstances is an ongoing concern for T&TEC. We wish to use this opportunity to again remind persons to be vigilant and perform necessary safety checks when working around overhead lines. Keep ladders, scaffolding, roof beams, oversized materials of any type and body parts at least 15 feet from electricity poles and lines. Coming into contact with, or close to, overhead lines can cause electric shock or electrocution (death),” it added.
