Chronicle Editor
Leonard Ncube , Victoria Falls Reporter
A HWANGE woman was electrocuted by a naked electricity cable she had allegedly illegally connected to a fowl run at her house, police confirmed.
Matabeleland North police spokesperson Inspector Glory Banda said Lilian Mhlanga (41) of Madumabisa Village was confirmed dead upon arrival at St Patrick’s Hospital following the incident last Thursday.
“I can confirm that we received a report of a woman who was electrocuted by an electricity cable. Lilian Mhlanga of Madumabisa Village Hwange, was electrocuted after she tried to switch on a light in her fowl run intending to give feed to the chicks,” said Insp Banda.
He said Mhlanga’s daughter discovered her mother’s lifeless body and alerted neighbours who rushed her to the hospital.
Circumstances are that on Thursday, at around 7pm, Mhlanga entered a fowl run intending to feed her chickens.
She attempted to switch on a light inside the fowl run and suffered an electrical shock and fell down. Police said her daughter, upon realising that an unusually long time had passed before she returned, followed her to the fowl run and found her lying on the floor.
She alerted neighbours who tripped the electricity mains in the house. “Lilian Mhlanga was then taken to St Patrick’s Hospital where she was pronounced dead upon arrival,” said Insp Banda.
He said police and electrical engineers from Hwange Colliery Company Limited, which administers the area, attended the scene and observed that the electricity connection from the house to the fowl run was illegal.
Some wires were also not insulated.
Recently, a family in Hwange lost all household property after their house was gutted by fire caused by a spark from an illegal electricity connection.
Illegal electricity connections are common in most houses in the Hwange Colliery-run suburbs in Hwange.-@ncubeleon
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