9 Year-old electrocuted to death during a Kakamega funeral

KAKAMEGA, Kenya, Nov 10 – A 10-year old boy was on Monday electrocuted to death, after coming into contact with a live wire during a burial in Shinyalu, Kakamega county.

Braving Obula was accompanying his family to the funeral of a community elder when the incident occurred on a rainy Monday within the County.

According to the residents who had attended the burial, a public announcement system was hooked to a power source at the deceased home and was used to communicate with the large congregation at the same time playing loud music.

“We were so busy going about our ceremony and had not realised what the boy was doing since a lot of children were also in the compound dancing in the rain,” said a shocked resident.

The boy who was also bare feet is later said to have gone to where the public system was connected, without knowing the cables were not well insulated.

“When we noticed the boy was on the ground, someone quickly rushed to the home to switch off the power but it was too late. We had just buried a loved one,” another resident said.

The body was moved to the Kakamega Referral Hospital awaiting post-mortem.