Johannesburg - The death of a six-year-old girl, who was electrocuted at Thembelihle informal settlement near Lenasia, south of Joburg, has highlighted the dangers of illegal electricity connections.
The child was killed on Monday afternoon while playing in an area surrounded by illegal power lines, said the city's Emergency Medical Services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi.
“The area has cables running everywhere because of illegal connections; there's no way this girl could have missed any of the cables,” he said.
City Power has said more than 80 percent of recent power outages were the result of illegal connections overloading the network.
Mulaudzi said paramedics tried for about an hour to resuscitate the child but were unsuccessful. She was declared dead on the scene.
He said that the child's death was hard for her parents. They seemed guilt-ridden about the cause when asked if they were aware of her whereabouts.
“Thembelihle is home to many illegal connections. People go the extent of connecting power from the street lights and electric boxes placed in the streets,” Mulaudzi said.
He appealed to residents to refrain from illegal connections.
“Now a child’s life is gone due to (illegal) electricity (connections). I hope this serves as a lesson to other informal settlements,” Mulaudzi said.
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The Star