A 47-year-old homeless man yesterday sustained injuries about his body after a Guyana Power and Light (GPL) electrical pole broke and fell on him at the corner of Camp and North Road.
Compton Rampersaud was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital but left without receiving any medical attention, and he said that he had been waiting at the hospital while in severe pain for over two hours.
When Stabroek News contacted the homeless man he was sitting at the corner of North Road pleading with people to render him medical attention.
“My back is hurting so much… I walked back from the hospital in pain…I am so hungry and don’t know what to do.”
The man explained that he goes to that location daily to get assistance from passers-by by “begging them for money”.
According to Seeyone Lindore, who witnessed the mishap, the man was standing on the northern side of North Road when the pole fell from the opposite side of the road hitting him in his back.
Lindore who was travelling along North Road at the time, said that he was in the front seat of a car and was about to exit the vehicle at the corner of Camp Street when he heard a loud explosion.
The man said that when he looked at the rear view mirror of the vehicle he saw the man lying on the ground with electrical wires and the pole pinning him. “When I looked in the mirror I see a man on the ground tangled up in wires and trying to get out…So I rushed out of my car and assisted him.”
Stabroek News learnt that GPL workers arrived on the scene about thirty-five minutes later to disconnect the electricity. “De workers came and just disconnect the wire them, they ain’t even ask if anybody get injured or not… the time GPL tek to cut off people lights they should fix the wires and poles properly.”
A nearby resident said that she is fearful since there is another pole which is shaking whenever there is a strong wind.
Last month four-year-old Antuane Lovell was electrocuted by faulty GPL wires while playing with his older brother at their Lot 334 Craig, East Bank Demerara home.
