Three suffer burns as flag rod touches live wire

PUNE: Three persons travelling in a tractor trolley sustained severe burn injuries on the Katraj-Dehu Road bypass, near Ambegaon, on Saturday afternoon, when the trolley they were travelling in came into contact with the overhead high-tension electricity line.
The Haveli police have identified the victims as Devram Kasabe (19), Ganesh Pardeshi (19) and Mahesh Avale (20), all from Taljai slums.They were admitted to the Sassoon general hospital for treatment.
According to the Haveli police, the victims are the members of the Shiv Mitra Madnal of Taljai. They were travelling on the trolley with the decoration set for the Navratri Utsav and were heading towards Taljai from Wadgaon, the police said.
According to the police, one of the victims was holding a flag in his hand. While passing under the Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Limited's (MSETCL) Parvati-Chinchwad extra high voltage (EHV) electricity line at Ambegaon, the entire trolley came in contact with the live current and the all the three victims, who were on the trolley, sustained severe burn injuries.
The police said Avale sustained 40 per cent burn, Pardeshi 20 and Kasabe sustained 12 per cent burn injuries.
MSETCL executive engineer A V Maslekar (EHV, Pune zone) said, "The incident took place when the three youths were carrying hoardings in a tractor and were waving a flag fixed on an iron rod. The rod came into contact with the conductor of the EHV line resulting in the youths getting burn injuries. There is sufficient clearance under the EHV line that crosses the highway and the youths sustained injuries only because the rod that they were carrying came in contact with the EHV line."