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Goed Fortuin boy, 9, electrocuted
“After months of complaining, GPL wait till meh son dead fuh come and fix the wire,” – Child’s mother
What was supposed to be a regular evening bath for nine-year-old Satyanand Balkaran turned out to be fatal. The child met his unfortunate end by way of an exposed electrical wire and the conduction of electricity via water and zinc.
Dead: Satyanand Balkaran
On Wednesday at around 19:00hrs, Satyanand ventured into his Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara yard in the company of his mother, Debbie Ramash and his older brother. The two boys were supposed to bathe while Ramash did the laundry but those plans were shattered within minutes.
When Kaieteur News visited the Goed Fortuin residence that Satyanand once called home, family members, relatives and friends were gathered mourning their loss. As a grieving Ramash recounted the ordeal those around became tearful.
According to Ramash, minutes after she began washing clothes in her yard near the “booby-trapped” zinc fence, Satyanand shouted ‘Mommy!’ Thinking her older son had troubled the lad she inquired what the matter was. However, as the older boy denied troubling his brother, Satyanand collapsed in a pool of water near the fence.
The woman frantically ran over to her son and grabbed him, but a shocking sensation caused her to drop him instantly. Her motherly instincts forced her to grab the child and place him on a dry area. Seeing froth coming out of the child’s mouth she sent her older son to get help.
Ramash recalled that her neighbour assisted in transporting them to the hospital where doctors tried to save her son’s life. But by 19:30hrs her son was dead. This reality plunged the woman into greater sorrow as she started crying and channeling her anger to GPL.
The woman said for over five months her mother-in-law and neighbours have been complaining to GPL’s Vreed-en-Hoop branch about the exposed electrical wire that was resting on the zinc shed that is supported by a zinc fence.
“I didn’t want to believe he dead…I didn’t know he dead…I thought he playing…that he trying to fool me…but my son dead…after months of complaining, GPL wait till meh son dead fuh come and fix the wire,” she said.
According to a relative, Rupert Balkaran, “As recent as last week the back neighbour complained to GPL about the wire but every complaint falls on deaf ears.”
Balkaran said that following the incident, at around 02:00hrs yesterday morning, a team from GPL visited the area and “tried to rectify or cover up the exposed wire”. However, police ranks who arrived on the scene on Wednesday saw the position of the live wire, he added.
According to a police source, the electrical wire was grazing on a zinc fence that is near to where the lad went to bathe. With water being a conductor of electricity the lad was electrocuted. Apparently, he pitched some distance away from where he was bathing and was subsequently taken to the hospital.
It is yet to be determined if the connection was illegal, the source said.
The dead child’s grandmother points to the GPL wire (now taped) that is resting on the zinc fence
A relative said that the electrical wire is a legal connection. He noted that around 10:00am personnel of GPL visited the home and looked at the wire. The team allegedly promised to return to the area to do further work.
According to GPL’s Public Relations Officer, GPL is aware of the matter and is currently investigating. The official assured that a press release on the matter would be issued.
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