Two teens charred to death in transformer blast near Sriperumbudur near Chennai, got electrocuted when trying to pick ice apples stuck in wire

Chennai: Two college students were charred to death in a transformer blast near Sriperumbudur on Thursday morning. Police said, N Delhi Ganesh and A Dakshinamurthy, both 17, had been trying to harvest ice apple (nungu) from a tree at around 10am, after playing cricket. When they climbed up a palmyra tree with a harvesting pole to pluck the fruits, a cluster of fruits fell onto high-tension transformer wires nearby and got stuck there. The boys reportedly borrowed a wooden pole, fitted with an iron sickle at the tip, and were using it to try to retrieve the fruits. The transformer suddenly exploded, triggering a fire that engulfed the duo. They were thrown off in the impact and sustained severe burn injuries. Following alerts from villagers, fire and rescue services personnel rushed to the spot. The injured were taken to Sriperumbudur govt hospital, where doctors declared them brought dead. Police said the students had borrowed the pole from a local, and had overlooked the iron tip attached to it, which led to the electrocution. Locals said the boys, residents of Sirumangadu village, and first-year students at a private college, usually consumed the fruit offered by villagers. On Thursday, however, they tried to pluck it themselves. Police have sent the bodies for postmortem to the same hospital and registered a case of accidental deaths. Further investigation is underway.
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