Rod grazes live wire, 16 kids suffer burns

KOTA: At least 18 people, including 16 children, sustained severe burn injuries after getting electrocuted during a Mahashivratri procession in Kota on Friday.

The mishap occurred around noon when one of the boys in the Shiv baraat, holding aloft a flag with a 22-foot iron rod, touched a high-tension overhead wire, SP Amrita Duhan told TOI. Four more boys got electrocuted when they rushed to save him. Chaos ensued and some women in the procession dropped pots of water they were carrying on their head, which increased the number of people injured.

One of the injured sustained 100 percent burn injury, Duhan said, adding the organisers had not taken permission for the procession.