Vocational student electrocuted at construction site

LIRA | Police in Lira City are investigating the circumstances under which a second-year vocational education student got electrocuted at a construction site.

Sam Okol, 27, a second-year plumbing student at Buluge Technical School in Lira City, was killed on Tuesday at Adyel Children’s Park in Lira City where he had gone to work as a casual labourer

Two firms, Al-Numai Group and Abubakar Technical Services, are currently undertaking beautification works at the children's park and the deceased had taken up a casual job with them.

The works are under the Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development (USMID).

Joshua Ojok, a co-worker of Okol, confirmed to Nile Post said that the deceased got electrocuted while working on a water tank.

“He had come to do casual work and while up on the tank stand working he got electrocuted," Ojok said.

Workers at the site had desperately attempt to rescue Okol, rushing him to Lira Regional Referral Hospital.

The North Kyoga Regional Police Spokesperson, SP Patrick Jimmy Okema, said police were informed of the incident and homicide detectives were dispatched to the scene.

“The homicide team and a team from Umeme Lira's office visited the scene and documented the evidence," Okema said.

"Okol was pronounced dead at Lira Regional Referral Hospital where he was rushed for treatment. Relevant statements were also recorded from the workers and site management."

Preliminary findings indicate there was water logging on the tank stand and electric wires running from the switch connected to the machine straight to the tank.

The water log resulted from the heavy rainfall currently being experienced in the area.

Okema said: “The body of the deceased has been taken to the mortuary at Lira Regional Referral Hospital pending postmortem examinations.”

Past incidences

In March 2022, a teenager drowned in an excavated ditch along Olwol Road where the same contractor was undertaking construction works.

Moses Ogwal had attempted to bathe in the water but plunged to the deep end where he died.

Ogwal’s clothes were found dumped outside the water after his friends reported his mysterious vanishing to the authorities. His body was hours later retrieved from the water using an excavator.