CHENNAI: A 38-year-old farmer and local DMK functionary was electrocuted after coming into contact with a snapped live wire near Perambakkam in Tiruvallur on Wednesday.
According to police, R Silambarasan had gone to open his shop near the Irulancheri Nagathamman Temple early in the morning when an overhead electric wire, damaged by recent rain, snapped and fell on his tractor parked nearby.
He suffered a fatal electric shock when he climbed onto the vehicle. Such was the impact that it threw him off the tractor, police said, adding two others standing close by too sustained burns.
Silambarasan was taken to a nearby private hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead. Residents alerted electricity officials who disconnected the power supply.
The Mappedu police and sent the body to the Tiruvallur Government Medical College Hospital for postmortem.
When contacted, officials of the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation said they came to know of the incident only after being informed by media.
“Field staff have been sent to the location to assess the situation, and a report will determine the course of action, including compensation to the victim’s kin,” an official said.
Silambarasan, youth secretary of the DMK’s Kadambathur union, is survived by his wife and five-year-old daughter.