KARACHI: As heavy rain disrupted life in the city for the fifth consecutive day on Friday, six people died in different parts of the metropolis, five of them of electrocution.
Karachi received 57.5 millimetres, or 2.2 inches, of rain on Friday and the Met Office said more rain is expected on Saturday (today).
The rain played havoc with the ill-maintained transmission and distribution system of the K-Electric as power supply was disrupted in many parts of the city and took hours to be restored.
Hours-long traffic jams on key arteries were also witnessed in the aftermath of the rain. Civic authorities also failed to drain out rainwater accumulated in various city areas including main roads till late in the night.
Electrocution deaths
Two motorcyclists suffered electric shock and died when a live wire snapped from a pole-mounted transformer (PMT) and fell on them near a seminary in SITE.
The wire apparently fell due to the heavy rains, said SITE-A SHO Saleem Awan. He identified the victim as Abdul Rauf, 35, and Abdul Mannan, 45. The bodies were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities.
The officer said they would wait for victims’ relatives for registration of an FIR to pursue the case legally.
Power failures, traffic jams hit the metropolis; the Met Office describes city’s weather conditions as a ‘bit unusual’
In Moosa Colony, two brothers were electrocuted in the evening. An Edhi Foundation spokesperson said that accumulated rainwater entered a house and a live electric wire fell in the water, killing 11-year-old Javed and 14-year-old Saleem.
Eight-year-old Arman died of electric shock inside his house in Hijrat Colony. The body was brought to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, but the child’s relatives took it away without completing medico-legal formalities.