Man killed after substation explodes while allegedly trying to steal copper

City Power has again warned residents against tampering with electricity infrastructure following the death of two people in different areas in the past 24 hours. 

According to City Power on Tuesday, a foreign national from Lesotho was killed early on Tuesday morning after he allegedly vandalised one of the minisubstations at Hawker Siddley in Roodepoort.

It is alleged that the victim illegally opened the minisubstation with the intention to steal copper bits from inside. 

The minisubstation exploded, injuring the man. He was taken to hospital where he was certified dead. 

“The area of Roodepoort is plagued by senseless vandalism and cable theft incidents which have been on the rise in recent days,” said City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena.

ALSO READ: Two City Power security officers arrested for cable theft

In another incident, a body of a 28-year-old woman was found in a bushy wetland area of Meriting section, Lenasia, on Monday afternoon

According to Mangena, it is suspected that the woman got electrocuted by the illegal connections running through the bushes. 

“The residents say the woman went missing on the 8th October after a community meeting in the area. City Power was only alerted yesterday [Monday] by the police who requested we switch off power and remove the illegal connections to ensure the area is safe for them to do their work,” said Mangena.

“We have been grappling with the problem of illegal connections in the Lenasia area, which are not only costing City Power millions of rands in lost revenue, but are dangerous as proven in this case.”

Both cases have been handed over to the police who are busy with their investigations. 

City Power sent condolences to the families of both victims. 

In July, a resident from Crosby near Mayfair landed in hospital after he allegedly tampered with a mini substation in an attempt to illegally restore his electricity and it exploded.

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