DADU: Power supply was affected in several towns after a high-voltage electricity transmission tower collapsed in Khanoth town of Jamshoro district, the police said on Wednesday, but there were conflicting reports about what caused the incident.

The affected power line runs from Jamshoro’s 500kV grid station to Dadu.

Officials of the National Transm­ission and Despatch Company (NTDC), which manages the transmission line, and the police said the electric pylon fell after a group of thieves stole the braces holding it at around 8pm on Tuesday in Khanoth, some 40 kilometres from the Jamshoro city.

However, sources told Dawn that the incident occurred when unidentified miscreants targeted the tower with a bomb blast.

Police say tower fell after braces stolen, but sources point to bomb attack by miscreants

Jamshoro’s senior superintendent of police (SSP), Imran Qureshi, told Dawn that the culprits involved in the theft had been identified and two scrap dealers had been arrested.

He said the rickshaw used for transporting the stolen property had also been confiscated and the stolen items had been recovered. The police were conducting raids to arrest the remaining suspects, he added.

Police and NTDC officials rushed to the site after the incident. A bomb disposal squad was also sent to the site.

Zulfiqar Solangi, the official in charge of NTDC in Jamshoro, confirmed to Dawn that Tower No. 71 fell after its braces, worth millions of rupees, had been stolen.

The Jamshoro police had been informed about the situation, he said, adding that repair work would take two to three days.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2023