Kanwar Accident in Mauritius

MrXenon · #1 ● 03-05-2024, 12:18 AM

6 dead and a dozen people injured in a horrific accident in the small town of Arsenal in Mauritius.

Mahashivratri is an annual festival held in remembrance of Lord Shiva. The Hindus built a Kanwar(decorated structure) that they transport to Grand Bassin, the local equivalent of the sacred Ganges River. Every year the Kanwars get bigger and taller which results in pretty bad accidents with some being fatal.

Unfortunately this year wasn't much different. This Kanwar was so big that it was manned by 40 people to help it navigate the small streets and all the obstacles on the way to the river. At some point the Kanwar struck a high power line. Around 20 people were then electrocuted with 6 of them being trapped under the structure itself. The Kanwar then caught on fire and unfortunately not much could be done to save the 6 individuals from the fire.

I found some footage of the accident and the aftermath. In a video taken prior to the accident you can see some of the men moving power lines out of the way with long poles made specifically for this. As dangerous as it is, this is a very common practice and even though the government has implemented laws about the design of these Kanwars, the general mindset is that they will keep doing what they've been doing.

HIGHTECHDUDE · #2 ● 03-05-2024, 12:26 AM

Every damned time... they'll never learn.

stranglewank · #3 ● 03-05-2024, 12:45 AM

Literally everybody reading this was taught when they were young about powerlines and looking both ways before crossing…yet these lessons that were engrained into us seems to be completely fucking absent in this part of the world.

It’s fucking crazy.