A 16-year-old schoolboy who attempted to rescue his goat after it was electrocuted by an electric wire attached to a wire fence in a farmland died yesterday (10) afternoon, Kuchchaveli Police said.
The deceased was identified as Ayubkhan Mohamed Ripas (16), a Grade 11 student of Kuchchaveli An-Nuriya Maha Vidyalaya, and a resident of Sallimune, Kuchchaveli.
Police said the student had left home to look after his goats and had gone to rescue one that had died after becoming entangled in a fence in a farmland in the Vadalikulam area. In the process, he was electrocuted by an unauthorised electric power line connected to the fence.
He was initially admitted to the Kuchchaveli District Hospital in a critical condition and was later transferred to the Trincomalee General Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
The owner of the land, where the unauthorised power line had been installed, has been arrested. Police said the suspect is a 62-year-old retired technician of the Ceylon Electricity Board and a resident of the Vadalikulam area.
The suspect is due to be produced before the Magistrate’s Court, while further investigations are being conducted under the direction of the Officer-in-Charge of Kuchchaveli Police, Chief Inspector D.P.P. Padma Nandana.
