Wedding party turns tragic after drone ‘hits’ high-tension power line, guest singed

MUMBAI: Organizing an event without checking the fire safety of the surroundings can have disastrous consequences. Kandivli businessman Devendra Jain, who had gone to Surat to attend a wedding, suffered life-threatening burns after either a drone operated at the event or a firecracker came in contact with a high-tension cable near the venue. An electric arc formed and scalded the entire rear side of his body. After seven surgeries over five weeks in a south Mumbai hospital, Jain is yet to heal fully. His brother-in-law suffered burns to his face and arms and a dozen other relatives sustained minor injuries at the wedding.

“I blacked out after the incident and have no memory of how it all happened,” said Jain(38). On January 29, Jain and his family travelled to Surat for a wedding reception of a relative. They intended to stay there for a day and return. “The wedding reception was in a resort 30km outside Surat. We were part of the groom’s procession. There was a high-tension wire close to where the resort was located. Around 7pm, the procession halted as the bride’s family welcomed us. Firecrackers were being burst and two drones were hovering around to shoot the event. Suddenly there was a loud sound and a flash of light. The tiles on which we stood were crushed in seconds. I quickly covered my face with my hands. But my face, arms and legs were scalded,” said Mukesh Pamecha, Jain’s brother-in-law.

Pamecha moved to a corner and poured bottles of cold water on his hands and face. “That’s when I noticed Devendra lying on the floor unconscious. We called up an acquaintance who was a trustee at a local hospital. After one look at Devendra, the doctors recommended that we take him to a hospital specializing in burns. After moving him to another local hospital in Surat, the family decided to bring back Devendra to Mumbai,” said Pamecha.

“Devendra suffered 45% second degree deep to third degree burns on his entire back and both lower limbs. Over three surgeries, we replaced dead skin layers with skin allographs from the skin bank. Collagen sheets were applied on his back for rapid wound healing. The areas over his right thigh, leg, ankle and foot had third degree burns which wouldn’t heal. We had to perform skin grafts. Overall, we performed seven procedures. He cannot sleep on his back till all the wounds heal, which will take a fortnight,” said Dr Shailesh Ranade, plastic surgeon, his treating doctor at Bhatia Hospital. He was discharged on March 7.

“When something came in contact with the high-tension wire at the wedding venue, what happened can be described as an electric arcing. It could leave people around with severe electrical burn injuries and/or an electric shock,” said former fire department chief Pratap Kargupikar. “Precautions have to be taken to not have an airborne object like a drone or crackers go up in the air when there is a high tension wire around,” added Kargupikar.