The wife of one of the two men who were on Tuesday electrocuted while installing security cameras in the Guyana National Stadium compound, said that her husband was not outfitted in safety gear.
Eighteen-year-old Krishna Chand, of Lot 98 Lusignan Pasture, East Coast Demerara (ECD) and 33-year-old Oliver Anthon, called Junior, of Buxton, East Coast Demerara, were electrocuted after the pole that they were installing cameras on came into contact with a live wire connected to a Guyana Power and Light (GPL) post. The incident occurred around 1.20 pm.
Chand and Anthon, along with two other workers who sustained injuries, were rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), where Chand and Anthon were pronounced dead on arrival.
When Stabroek News visited the home of Anthon, the man’s wife, Wendetta Anthon, was still in shock at the sudden death of her husband. The woman stated that she found out about his death after her aunt had come to enquire if she had heard any information of her husband being injured after seeing a post on social media. She stated that subsequent to hearing the information, she went to the GPHC, where she was told that her husband had died and his body had already been taken to the Lyken’s Funeral Home.
“Late in the afternoon my aunt come over and say, “You hear anything about Junior?” I say no and she tell me call he phone. When I call and call, I didn’t get no answer,” Anthon said. She added that she subsequently received numerous calls from persons telling her that her husband got “shock up”.
The woman was only able to identify her husband’s body yesterday as she got to the funeral home late and the police had already left. “When I go at Lyken’s they say that how the police already gone and I can’t get to check and we went back today (Wednesday) and it was him. He wasn’t wearing any protective boots or any protective gloves, nothing of the sort, just get on he normal clothes, he normal boots he leave home with,” Anthon stated.
The woman added that her husband was working with a hire truck company and at the time was the driver of canter GXX 6141 and had only received the contract to install the security cameras about a month ago from a private company. The woman said that so far she has only been contacted by the owner of the truck company but not the private company that contracted them.
Wendetta told Stabroek News that she had a bad feeling about the job about three days prior to the incident and was concerned about her husband’s safety. She said that he was previously contacted by his previous employers and she had urged him to go and speak with them. “I say Jay leff the work and go and see what the people them calling you for and you need to ease off with this pole thing,” Anthon said. She added that the last time she had heard from her husband was on Tuesday around 12 pm, when he called to ask how she and the children were doing and told her that he was feeling unwell.
The woman became emotional as she was speaking about her husband and described him as a hardworking and very caring and selfless individual. She added that her husband worked very hard to make an honest living to take care of her and their children. “If he had to work overtime or work another job to make extra money, he would do that because he want to take care of his family and he always want to make sure we got everything we need,” she said.
She told Stabroek News that it was hard to tell the children but they found out after she was crying when she returned home.
When Stabroek News visited Chand’s home on Tuesday, family members were inconsolable and were not able to speak with members of the media. According to information released from the police, a post-mortem examination which was conducted yesterday, showed Chand’s cause of death to be cardiac arrest due to electrocution.
A post-mortem examination is expected to be conducted on Anthon’s body tomorrow.
Several attempts were made to contact SmartTech Solutions, the company which was contracted to install the security cameras, but they proved futile.
Previous reports indicate that SmartTech Solutions was contracted by the Ministry of Public Security to install security cameras in and around the city as part of the Government’s “Smart City” initiative. It was reported that Chand, at the time of the incident, had the electrical wire to carry out the job around his neck, while Anthon was holding the metal pole attached to a crane on the canter.
