Four church members electrocuted after pole snapped while they were changing their flag

FOUR members of the El-Adonai Evangelical Ministry were electrocuted over the weekend after a high tension cable snapped when they were trying to change the church's flag on at electric pole along Jibowu Street in the Abule Egba area of Lagos State.

Yesterday morning, as the church was preparing for its thanksgiving service the incident happened around 7am when the pole holding the flag touched the high tension cable and snapped. Six persons were involved in the incident but two were resuscitated, while the other four died, with one witness saying the deceased were two adults and two children.

He added: “We were inside the house when the incident happened around 7am. We thought it was gas that started the fire at first because the church was preparing for its thanksgiving but when we came out, we saw that the church’s pole touched the high tension wire and it snapped and electrocuted the people under it.

"Four of them died, two adults and two children. They were trying to change the flag on the pole because the one there was torn.”

One other witness said the police prevented the local youth in the community from burning the church after the pastor fled. He said: “One of the people living with the pastor called Ayo climbed the iron pole but as he was climbing it, the pole touched the high tension wire and it snapped, causing a fire.

 "It electrocuted the boy and three others holding the pole for him. The incident caused tension in the area and because the pastor of the church ran away immediately it happened, the youth wanted to burn down the church and all the buildings inside and if not for the arrival of the police, the situation would have worsened.”

The Lagos State Fire Service said the Ikeja Electric Distribution Company was immediately contacted to cut off power supply to the area to avoid more casualties. Three of the deceased have been buried, while the remaining body has been deposited at a mortuary in Yaba.