A driver, his wife and their 10-year-old son were electrocuted in their waterlogged home at Khardah in North 24 Parganas district on Tuesday evening, possibly while the father tried to charge his mobile phone and the mother and the child attempted to save him.
An officer of the Barrackpore police commissionerate said it was not yet clear whether the electrocution was the outcome of a short circuit in the switchboard or faulty wiring of a table fan that was also near the tragedy spot.
Raja Das, 38, was the first to get electrocuted after he waded through the water in his room in the tenement in a government quarters, around 22km from Kolkata, and plugged on the mobile charger, his relatives said.
His wife Poulami, 30, found Das lying on the floor and tried to help him when she too got electrocuted. Their elder son Neel, 10, who was standing outside the room, ran to help his mother and apparently got electrocuted, the relatives have told the police.
The youngest member of the family, Abir, 4, who was sitting on the bed, saw the incident and called his grandparents who live in another house in the same compound known as the Patulia government quarters.
“Abir started screaming for help. He called my name and asked me to come. My husband and I went to the house and found my son, daughter-in-law and elder grandson lying motionless on the floor in a puddle of water,” said Das’s mother Bulu.
The entire housing compound has been waterlogged for at least the past 24 hours as heavy rain lashed the city and its outskirts. Water had collected on the ground floor of many houses in the compound.
A state electricity board official said a probe had been initiated. He added: “If a home is waterlogged, it should be checked if water has come in contact with any of the switchboards. Special care has to be taken to ensure that the meter box is dry. Or else, there is a possibility of all connections in the house becoming live.”
Teen killed: A 15-year-old Class VII student was electrocuted in Titagarh in North 24 Parganas district while returning home wading through waist-deep water in a lane. Hiralal Roy, son of a rickshaw-pedaller, reportedly came in contact with a live wire.