Five persons died of electrocution while trying to hoist the national flag in separate incidents in different districts in a span of fewer than 24 hours in Jharkhand.

Around 7.30pm on Sunday, three siblings died because of electrocution near Arsande Rice Mill under Kanke police station area of the state capital Ranchi. All three of them — Vineet Kumar Jha, 23, Pooja Jha, 25, and Vineet’s cousin Aarti Jha, 24 — were hoisting the Tricolour on the roof of their house.

According to relatives of the family, it was raining in the evening. The siblings were trying to straighten the Tricolour that was put in a steel pipe on the roof of their house when accidentally the steel pipe came in contact with the 11,000-volt overhead wire.

In similar incidents, two more persons died of electrocution on Monday.

Five coal workers of New Akashkinari Colliery under Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), a subsidiary of PSU Coal India Limited, came in contact with a high-tension wire while erecting a pole for flag-hoisting at Katras police station area in Dhanbad district on Monday morning.

“A 38-year-old man, Dilshad Ahmed, died and four others were injured and they are currently undergoing treatment at Central Hospital in Dhanbad,” Katras police station officer-in-charge Randhir Kumar said.

Another incident took place in Bokaro Police Line when a 35-year-old cleaner Alexander Bage was electrocuted to death while hoisting the Tricolour.

“The man died when the pole came in contact with a high-tension wire, while a constable and an office-bearer of the Policemen’s Association received minor injuries in the incident and are currently undergoing treatment at the Bokaro General Hospital,” Bokaro city deputy superintendent of police Kuldip Kumar said.