Durban – A child, aged 4, was killed after she was electrocuted in Canelands, Verulam, on Monday afternoon.
Reaction Unit South Africa (Rusa) spokesperson Prem Balram said that Fazira Aina was killed when she made contact with an illegal electricity connection in Canelands.
Balram said that residents from the informal settlement contacted Rusa at about 1.14pm.
He said that reaction officers and Rusa medics were immediately dispatched and on arrival were informed that the child was expedited privately to Osindisweni Government Hospital.
“Rusa members made contact with the Aina family, who confirmed that she was pronounced deceased on arrival at the hospital,” Balram said.
“It was alleged that the child had lunch at her uncle’s residence. He was locking his home and was expected to escort the child to her residence after they had lunch together. Aina was electrocuted after she allegedly held onto an illegal electricity connection running along the fence.
“Her uncle managed to break the connection and transported the baby to the hospital with assistance from his employer,” Balram said.
Meanwhile, in an unrelated incident, last October, a toddler was killed after allegedly touching live electrical wires while playing at home.
At the time, Midlands EMS spokesperson Roland Robertson said that the Midlands EMS crews were dispatched by Howick SAPS to respond to an incident where a child had suffered an electric shock.
Robertson said that on arrival, their paramedics found a 1-year-old child with the father. The child was playing outside in his backyard where he unfortunately touched open electricity wires and got shocked.
He said that despite advanced life support interventions, due to the severity of the injuries the toddler was declared deceased.
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