Boy electrocuted while attempting to retrieve cricket ball

CHENNAI: A 14-year-old boy was electrocuted when he tried to retrieve a cricket ball and touched an overhead power cable in Kodungaiyur on Sunday.
Police identified the victim as S Hariharan, a Class VIII student. During weekends, he played cricket with his friends at a corporation ground on Srinivasa Permual Koil Street, Kodungaiyur.

A new building for a school is being constructed adjacent to the ground. Construction workers had put up a net to prevent building materials and dust from falling on passersby. Hariharan was fielding when the ball got stuck in the net. Hariharan, who went searching for the ball, climbed a transformer to retrieve it.

“He managed to get the ball, but slipped from the transformer,” said an investigating officer.

Unable to get any proper hold, he clung to an overhead cable that ran next to the net and suffered an electric shock. He was thrown away from the spot. “It was a high-voltage cable and he suffered severe burns,” the officer said.

The victim’s friend, who stood nearby, tried to catch him, but was prevented by a passerby from touching Hariharan. Else, he would have also suffered shock, police said.

Hariharan’s friends, who heard a huge blast, rushed to his rescue and took him to a hospital from where he was shifted to Stanley government hospital. He died within an hour, police said.

Kodungaiyur police registered a case of accidental death and sent his body for autopsy.