NAIROBI, June 9: Three Kenyan football fans hoisting a television antenna to watch the World Cup were electrocuted and nearly killed when they accidentally hit a high-voltage power line, reports said on Friday.

The trio sustained third-degree burns over 15 to 18 percent of their bodies when the aerial they were putting on top of an electricity pole touched the line in the Lunga Lunga area of Nairobi.

Evans Asaba, 21, told Nairobi's Standard daily: “We were trying to install the TV aerial when suddenly I felt an electric shock and blacked out immediately. I woke up to find myself in a hospital bed.”

Asaba and his two compatriots are in a critical but stable condition.

Doctors treating the men said they would likely remain in hospital for the next few weeks, meaning they may miss most if not all of the World Cup action.—AFP