Man Burned to Charcoal While Cutting Transmission Wire in Narsingdi’s Basail; Identity Unknown Even by Fingerprints
A man has been burned to charcoal and killed after a transformer caught fire while he was cutting a high-voltage transmission wire on an electricity pole in the Basail Railgate area of Narsingdi town. The incident took place at 6:30am on Saturday. His three companions, who were standing below, fled after the incident.
Police and local sources said four men were attempting to steal wire from an electricity pole 50 yards west of Basail Railgate at around 6:30am. Keeping three of them standing below, one climbed the pole and was cutting the wire. The power connection was live at the time. As he cut the wire, the transformer on the pole caught fire.
Seeing the man on the pole burning, the three standing below fled. The man, burned to charcoal, eventually fell to the ground. He died at the scene.
An eyewitness, a local resident, said that right after the fire broke out, he opened his window glass and saw three men running away, while one man was burning on the pole. Coming out of the house, he saw that the man’s entire body had already been burned to charcoal and he was no longer alive.
The dead man’s name and identity have not yet been recovered. His entire body, including his face, is so badly burned that it is not possible to identify him now. Police said there is also no scope to identify him by collecting fingerprints.
Informed by local people, Fire Service members quickly reached the spot and brought the fire under control. Police later recovered the body from the scene. Members of the Narsingdi Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) came to the spot and tried to identify the dead man by collecting his fingerprints, but failed. After preparing the inquest report, police sent the body to the Narsingdi Sadar Hospital morgue for autopsy.
Narsingdi Railway Police outpost Sub-Inspector Dilip Chandra Sarkar said any incident within 10 yards of the railway line is handled by the railway police. Although the spot is railway land, the body was recovered from about 50 yards away. The district police will look into the subsequent legal aspects of the incident, he said.
Narsingdi Model Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) M R Al Mamun said the body of the man killed by fire while stealing wire from the pole has been sent to the morgue for autopsy. Efforts are under way to identify him, and legal proceedings are in process.
Earlier, at dawn last Tuesday, a young man named Masum Mia (35) was electrocuted to death while stealing wire from a pole in front of the Regent Power Plant on the bypass road in Palash upazila. His home was in the Garpara area of Ghorashal municipality in Palash upazila.
