MANSEHRA: A teacher and three students were electrocuted on Tuesday when a high transmission line came into contact with a steel pole during the flag-hoisting ceremony at a private school in the Kawai area of the Kaghan Valley.

“The teacher was electrocuted when the high transmission line touched the flagpole and the three students who came to rescue him also met the same fate and died,” Mujahid Hussain Shah, the principal of Al-Khidmat Foundation School, told reporters following the tragedy.

The charred bodies of teacher Mohammad Safeer and students — Mohammad Asif, Noman Khan and Mohammad Bilal — were shifted to the civil hospital in Kawai where families of all deceased did not allow a post-mortem examination. Following the incident, parents and family members of the students rushed to the hospital and school for identification of the victims, resulting in a stampede.

“The school administration and residents have been meeting the Peshawar Electricity Supply Company high-ups since 2017, asking them to shift the transmission wires from the area, but to no avail,” said Mr Shah. He said that the last application was submitted to Pesco’s chief engineer in Balakot on Aug 31, but no action was taken as a result of which four precious lives were lost.

Mansehra Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Zubair and District Police Officer Abdul Rasheed visited the school and met parents of the victims. “We have launched an inquiry after lodging an FIR against Pesco and the owner of the school under relevant law,” said the deputy commissioner.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2018