Thiruvananthapuram: A 42-year-old migrant worker was killed after suffering an electric shock while preparing a festival arch near Vellanad in the early hours of Sunday.The deceased was Khatibul Rahman, alias Rafiq, a native of Jalpaiguri, West Bengal. According to police and local sources, the incident occurred around 2am while Rahman and five others were erecting an iron arch in connection with a temple festival. While lifting the iron arch, it reportedly came into contact with an overhead electric line. All six workers holding the arch collapsed. Five of them soon regained consciousness. Even though his co-workers attempted to revive him by administering CPR, Rahman briefly regained consciousness but soon collapsed again. He was first taken to Vellanad Government Hospital and later shifted to Neyyar Medicity, Kattakkada, where doctors declared him dead. It is suspected that he suffered a heart attack following the electric shock, police said. Kanjiramkulam panchayat president V B Anilkumar said Rahman’s colleagues informed authorities that he had earlier underwent treatment for a heart-related ailment. Other workers were reportedly wearing sandals while working, but Rahman was barefoot at the time, which is believed to have contributed to the severity of the electric shock. The body was shifted to Medical College Hospital for postmortem examination.
