Accident: A 36-year-old technician with Bhutan Power Corporation (BPC) died yesterday in Chumey BHU, Bumthang after an electric shock flung him off the Uruk substation.

The incident occurred around noon when he was trying to trace a faulty line. He succumbed to burns and a head injury from the electrocution.

Six BPC staff were present when the incident occurred. They were trying to detect the defect in power line after heavy lightening on August 10 disrupted power supply in Chumey.

The group had trekked to Gyetsa and Uruk from Chumey mini hydel after they couldn’t track the defect on August 10. The automatic reclosing circuit breaker had signaled the defect to Uruk and Gyetsa areas.

After they reached a four-pole structure, which is around one kilometer ahead of Uruk substation, the deceased climbed up the structure and disconnected the jumper to Uruk substation to suspend the current from flowing to Uruk station, which the team was going to check for the glitch.

Once the team reached Uruk, the deceased with another technician began climbing up the substation with transformer attached to it. His colleague safely climbed the substation and crossed over the transformer towards the right pole.

The deceased had also started climbing from the left side of the substation. “He was trying to fasten the safety belt from the substation pole,” an official from BPC in Garpang said. “In the process he was trying to get support from a blue phase overhead by grabbing on to it and was immediately thrown off.”

He was rushed to the nearest BHU in Chumey where he died around 10 minutes later. It is unknown how the electric current became live in that split of a second, which was turned off by suspending the jumper.

By Tempa Wangdi, Bumthang

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