Police are investigating the death of David Smartt who was electrocuted while working at a sawmill on Monday while the manager is saying that the sawmill cannot say how Smartt got electrocuted since he was not operating any machinery at the time.
The manager is also refuting claims that its staff was hostile to the lad’s family.
In a release yesterday the police said that they are “investigating the circumstances surrounding the death” of Smartt, 19, of Welcome Street, Rosignol, West Bank Berbice.
At about 2.30pm Smartt’s body was found at his workplace at the Ousman and Sons Sawmill at Rosignol. According to the police release “he is suspected to have been electrocuted”.
It remains unclear what led to the electrocution but this newspaper had learnt that Smartt was barefoot at the time. Sources at the Fort Wellington Hospital stated that at first it seemed that Smartt had sustained head injuries until the burn marks on his hands were pointed out.
A post-mortem is still to be done on Smartt’s body.
The manager of Ousman’s and Son, Mohammed Ali, yesterday over the phone told this newspaper that the sawmill cannot say how Smartt got electrocuted. He added that while Smartt was employed at the sawmill he was not operating any machinery at the time. “Nobody knows what happen,” he said before reiterating that the matter is being investigated by GPL and the police. “They will determine what happen.”
The young man had been working at the sawmill for a number of years. He was his family’s sole breadwinner. In addition to his mother, the man cared for four siblings, including 14-year-old twins. The family is poor and lives without electricity, the woman noted.