Mandla Ganesh pandal tragedy: Four electrocuted to death, three injured after live wire falls on sleeping youths

Four young men were electrocuted to death and three others injured after a live power cable snapped and fell on them while they were sleeping inside a Ganesh pandal in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandla district early Saturday, police said.

The incident took place around 5 am in Hirapur village under Nainpur police station, around 50 km from Mandla district headquarters. The youths had returned to the pandal after participating in the Ganesh idol immersion procession and later went to sleep there.

Nainpur SHO Mansharam Wagen said a preliminary investigation indicated that a short circuit caused the electrical wire to snap and fall on the youths. The victims were electrocuted when the power supply was restored around 5 am.

All the victims were sleeping on the ground, which may have provided a low-resistance path for the current to pass through their bodies. Moisture at the site due to the weather also appears to have worsened the situation, the officer said.

The deceased have been identified as Jainu Bhanwre, 19, Ravi Jharia, 24, Krishna Kumar Bhanwre, 18, and Virendra Bhanwre, 24. The three injured men were taken to hospital for treatment.

The incident comes days after another electrocution tragedy at a Ganesh festival site in Mumbai’s Kalachowki area, where an eight-year-old girl and a 33-year-old woman were killed and four others injured on September 20.

Authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding the Mandla incident, including the electrical fault that led to the wire falling on the pandal.

with inputs from PTI