A worker perched on a scaffolding while carrying out welding works for a building along Valeria Street in Iloilo City was electrocuted on October 18, 2024. 

He was assisted immediately by a co-worker.

The co-worker narrated that they were working on a fire exit in the building when they were startled by the victim's cry for help. 

The co-worker pointed out that they placed a carton to pad contact with the primary electric line, but it was hit by an angle bar used in the works. 

“Tatlo kami. Tapos doon ako sa kabila, siya naman sa kabila,” Pedmar, the co-worker, said.

A parking attendant who happened to be in the area responded by poking the angle bar with a piece of bamboo.

“Pagtaas niya ng angle bar, tinamaan ang live wire at pumutok ang kuryente. Nakita ko, tumakbo ako at umakyat papunta sa kanya at tinapik ko ang angle bar para maging okay sya,” Benjamin Belches, the parking attendant, said.

The victim was rushed to the hospital. He sustained burns in parts of his body.

The safety officer of a power distribution firm reminds the public to coordinate first with the company before carrying out activities near power lines.

“Standard minimum three meters away tayo sa power lines. So ang karton, it cannot help you. Baka madagdagan pa ang ating problema kapag nasunog yan,” Engr. Priam Roy Rivera, safety officer of MORE Power, said.