8-year-old boy electrocuted while playing in society garden

The eight-year-old was running in the garden when he stepped on an open wire connected to an electric pole in the society premises and fell unconscious

MUMBAI: An eight-year-old boy, Joesph Thomas, was electrocuted while he was playing in the society garden in Vasai East on Saturday evening. The incident occurred around 7.45pm in the garden of Sky Heights Society in Evershine City, when Thomas was playing hide and seek with his friends.

Joesph Thomas

The eight-year-old was running in the garden when he stepped on an open wire connected to an electric pole in the society premises and fell unconscious. After ten minutes, a resident of the society saw Thomas unconscious and alerted the watchman and other society members who switched off the main electricity supply to the garden. They rushed him to the hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.

Rahul Dote, a resident of the building, said that he was going home from work when he saw the kid lying lifeless in the garden. “I saw the child lying unconscious and immediately realised that something was wrong with him. Thomas had died on the spot as he was lying in the bushes unnoticed for several minutes,” said Dote.

The cops have registered an accidental death report (ADR) and are investigating to find out whether there was any negligence involved as the wire was lying exposed and wet in the garden where the kids regularly play.

“We are questioning the society members to find out who was responsible for the maintenance of the garden,” said a police officer from Achole police station.

Thomas was the youngest of the two sons and a daughter of Prabhu Thomas, 42, a businessman. Thomas told the police that Joseph played in the garden every day. “The police should investigate who is responsible for my son’s death and arrest him so that other kids are saved,” he said.