Woman Electrocuted To Death In Kumbo

Sharon · #1 ● 10-31-2011, 11:59 AM

Negligence has always accounted for the sometimes high costs people to pay in certain life situations. A 65-year old mentally ill woman in Kumbo, met her death on a live electric wire in Kumbo, last June 29, 2006. The story of this lady's last journey began on June 28, when a high tension cable got loose from the pole where it was attached, quite near the transformer, and no effort was made by AES-SONEL technicians to put it back in its place.

For more than 24 hours, especially with the continuous rains in Kumbo, that cable was just waiting for whomever would by chance or otherwise fall victim to it.
Even with the repeated messages to the electricity company signalling the blackout in Mbveh quarters following the fallen cable, the people of this neighbourhood spent a day and a half in total darkness. The electricity company personnel that L'Effort contacted simply shifted the blame to the heavy machines operators for not indicating earlier that they could not operate.
The high tension cable lay right on the ground and quite close to the road where people walked pass. Indifferent to what this could mean to human life, AES-SONEL technicians in Kumbo left this lethal cable lying on the road before and even after the unfortunate claim of the woman's life. Eyewitnesses say the victim, who allegedly suffers from mental illness, grabbed the cable in her bare hands.
From all indications, there still reigns a high degree of insecurity in this very spot where the sad incident occurred. Businessmen along the Ta-mbveh Street testify that this is not the first time this particular cable has fallen off its staples. They say their hopes were again shattered when, even after the sad incident, the cable was not given a sturdier hook.
This however, is not the only electricity problem in Kumbo that is threatening lives. At Squares, there are stories of electricity cables causing fire accidents from time to time. The most recent fire incident almost killed a good number of people in a beer parlour and was only helped by onlookers who hastily indicated the presence of fire above the house.
Local electricians say the frequent fire incidents are caused by short circuits. There are cases of local electricians using sound cables to transmit electricity. This, they say, is due to the frequent low voltage in the town. Apart from insecurity, electricity users have also suffered too many inconvenience from frequent electricity cuts. Those who work with the help of electricity are rendered jobless when there is blackout.

I've always wanted to go to Kumbo.