A 39-year-old railway technician was electrocuted and his assistant seriously injured while carrying out maintenance of the isolator switch in the electrified down line near Kochuveli on Friday.
Railway sources identified the deceased as Sunil Kumar, a Grade II Technician, and resident of Pournami, Sanghuchakra lane, Mettukada here.
His assistant, Robinson, 42, a native of Kuzhithura in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, has been admitted to the ICU of a private hospital with serious injuries.
The supervisor, Dileep Kumar hailing from Pettah, has been admitted to the Railway hospital. The women staff in the team who witnessed the incident were still in a state of shock.
The incident took place around 12.20 p.m. when the team was carrying out maintenance of the isolator switch near Kochuveli. The injured were rushed to the private hospital immediately and Sunil Kumar was declared dead on arrival.
He is survived by wife Raji and son Sivaduttan.
Railway sources said the body of Sunil Kumar will be handed over to his relatives after the inquest and post-mortem examination at the Government Medical College Hospital on Saturday. The body is in the morgue of a private hospital.
Although the electrified up line was switched off for undertaking repair work, sources said the induction voltage of 3000-4000 volts in down line resulted in the electrocution of the technician.
Carelessness on the part of the team had led to the incident as adequate measures were not taken after switching off the line. The power supply to the overhead line is from the Kochuveli feeder. The Railways have ordered an inquiry by the Divisional Engineer into the incident.
