adminWhinsley Masara, Chronicle Reporter
AN 18-month-old toddler was yesterday electrocuted while playing with an electrical adaptor in Bulawayo’s Pumula Old suburb.
The toddler only identified as Junior was declared dead by the ambulance staff who arrived at the scene about 30 minutes after the incident occurred at around 10AM.
The mother of the child, Miss Pamela Phiri (20), had gone to church shrines at nearby bushes where she had gone to consult a prophet for undisclosed issues, leaving the baby under the care her sister, Miss Angel Phiri (21).
The accident occurred while Angel was breast feeding her new born baby and was facing away from the baby who smashed the adaptor onto the floor until it broke open.
The boy allegedly inserted his hand into the adaptor and was electrocuted.
When The Chronicle arrived at the scene at around 2PM, police had taken the body away.
Angel told the news crew that she suspects the baby was electrocuted because he was wet as he had been playing with water outside the house.
“He had been playing outside where I was performing some chores and when I went inside the house to breastfeed my baby, he followed. As I breastfed my baby, I didn’t realise that Junior was playing with the adaptor. I could hear him breaking something but I didn’t pay much attention. He didn’t cry or make any sound but just lay there on the floor, dying,” she said.
Bulawayo Metropolitan Province police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Abdenico Ndebele confirmed the incident.
He said they received a report where a one-year-six month-old child died after he touched an electrical chord.
“The mother of the deceased (20) left the child with her sister (21) when she left for church. The child came into contact with the electrical chord. When the aunt returned she found the child dead.
“The increase in deaths caused by electrification has become a worrying trend and we urge members of the public to be careful. People should avoid leaving connections that children can easily touch,” Asst Insp Ndebele said.
Last Friday, a TELCO employee was electrocuted while his colleague was injured when an aluminium pole they were using to install Wi-Fi at a house in Mkhosana suburb in Victoria Falls accidentally came in contact with overhead Zesa electrical cables.
Rector Msipha (43) of Mkhosana suburb and his colleague Mr Victor Zulu (38) from Aerodrome climbed up a mango tree to push up a four-metre long aluminium pole to mount a Wi-Fi modem.
Msipha was confirmed dead on arrival at Victoria Falls District Hospital while his colleague, Mr Zulu, was rushed to Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo before being transferred to Mater Dei Hospital where he is still admitted.
Last Christmas a four-year-old girl also died in her sleep after being electrocuted in Cowdray Park suburb.
Beyonce Siwela is suspected to have touched a naked electricity cable as she was turning in her sleep.
The cable was connected to an adaptor next to the floor where she slept.
Her aunt found her dead in the morning at around 6AM when she tried to wake her up to go to the toilet.
@winnie_masara
Online Reporter