A 25-year-old man is in serious condition after he was electrocuted on Friday. At around 4 in the afternoon, Punta Gorda resident David Bahadur placed an aluminum ladder on to a mango tree at the corner of Queen and Jose Maria Streets in the town. He climbed the ladder and then used an aluminum pipe to poke mangoes off the tree. But the pipe touched a 22 kv power line that runs through the mango tree. He was electrocuted and had to be admitted to the Punta Gorda Hospital with third degree burns over his entire body. He was later transferred to the Western Regional Hospital where he remains undergoing treatment.
BEL has sent out a release advising the public not to use metal objects near power lines, to always remain 18 feet away from power lines, to call BEL to trim or cut trees located on power lines and not to fly kites near power lines or in stormy weather. Earlier this year a man was electrocuted in the Belize District when he flew a kite unto a power line.
