‘Father, son electrocuted to death in Zarqa’

AMMAN — Police on Saturday said the deaths of a 27-year-old man and his three-year-old son, who were electrocuted at their house in Zarqa, were accidental, official sources said.

Earlier on Saturday, the child was electrocuted while playing with an electric socket in the house, a senior Civil Defence Department (CDD) official said.

“The father saw his son being electrocuted and rushed to pull him but was electrocuted himself,” the CDD official told The Jordan Times.

Both victims were rushed to a nearby hospital but were declared dead on arrival, the CDD official added.

Public Security Department Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi told The Jordan Times that police are treating the incident as an accident.

“The son and father died of electrocution caused by an unfortunate incident and there is no foul play,” the police official said.

The CDD official urged citizens to use wood or another insulating material to move someone away from an electricity source “otherwise the person trying to help will also be pulled by the electrocution and most likely die”.

This is the second incident in less than a week involving electrocution that killed two people in Jordan.

Last Monday, two brothers were electrocuted in their warehouse in a freak accident when a large water tank fell on electric wires that were on the floor, which consequently electrocuted the two men who were standing where the water gathered.

Also on Saturday, a four-year-old child died after falling in a cesspool in Mafraq, the CDD official said.

The victim was playing near the cesspool and fell some seven metres down the hole in Hosha area, the CDD official explained.

“The child was pulled out by our divers but was already dead,” the CDD official added.