50 percent drop in deaths due to accidental electrocution : PUC

The number of deaths caused by accidental electrocution has dropped by half last year, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) said in a press statement.

The PUC explained that the number of deaths due to electrocution which stood at 186 in 2012 had dropped to 89 last year.

A survey has found that these deaths had occured while hunting wild animals and attempting to illicit illegal electric lines to protect fields with cultivational crops, the PUC said.

The Commission added that showing negligence while handling or carrying out certain activities near electric cables had also been a main cause for the deaths.

"According to international standards, this death rate could be reduced to the ratio of one death per one million of the country's population," the release read.

According to the PUC, this ratio which stood at nine deaths per one million of the population in 2012 had dropped down to five deaths by last year.

The PUC pointed out that the male population had fallen victim to most incidents of electrocution last year by accounting for 83 percent of deaths. The highest and lowest number of deaths had been recorded in the Southern and Sabaragamuwa Provinces.