Three die by electrocution at private hospital in Delhi

Three people, including an electrical engineer and two plumbers, died by electrocution while repairing a water motor inside an underground tank at a hospital in Delhi. The bodies were found floating in the water inside the tank. The incident is being investigated by the police.

Three people — a man and his son, and a 59-year-old electrical engineer — died by electrocution inside an underground water tank on the premises of a private hospital at Vikas Nagar, near Ranhola in outer Delhi on Friday afternoon, police officers said.

The Commander Hospital in Ranhola where the incident took place. (HT Photo)

The engineer was employed at the hospital while the other two were plumbers.

The three had gone to repair a water motor in the tank, when they allegedly suffered electric shock and died. Their bodies were found floating in the water inside the tank, officials of Delhi Fire Service (DFS) said.

DFS director Atul Garg said the fire control room received a call at 2.56pm, reporting that electric current had spread in a water tank at Commander Hospital, Vikas Nagar, Nallah Road. Two fire tenders were rushed to the incident spot. The firemen learnt that there was electric current in the underground water tank in the hospital that is meant to supply water through pipes for the fire hydrant system.

Deputy commissioner of police (outer) Jimmy Chiram said the matter came to light after the Ranhola police station was informed that there was an incident at Commander Hospital and three people were trapped and needed help. A police team rushed to the hospital and learnt that three people were lying in the water tank.

“The bodies of the three people were fished out of the tank. They were identified as Sarvesh Kumar, 59, who was an electrical engineer at the hospital, Kunwar Pal, 40, and his son Raman (single name),20. The father-son duo were plumbers. The reason of the deaths would be ascertained after the post-mortem examination,” said DCP Chiram.

The hospital authorities could not be reached for a comment despite calls on two mobile numbers available on the internet.

The police said that the bodies were shifted to the mortuary of Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital for autopsy. A first information report (FIR) under Indian Penal Code’s section 304A (death by negligence) and other relevant sections was registered at the Ranhola police station.

“Initial enquiry revealed that the electric water motor installed inside the water tank had malfunctioned. The plumbers were called in for repair. The hospital’s electrical engineer was also inside the tank to repair the motor. Prime facie, it appears that the three suffered electric shock while carrying out the repair work,” said a police officer, aware of the incident.

The officer said forensic experts visited the incident spot and carried out an inspection, and took samples including the water motor.

The dead engineer was a resident of Sahibabad near Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. Kunwar Pal and Sarvesh lived with their family members in Hastsal village in south-west Delhi.