Three persons, including a five-year-old, died in separate mishaps in the past 24 hours in south Bengal.

An electrician died because of electrocution when he was busy ensuring power supply to a microphone set at a Durga Puja venue in Sauli Battala, Chandernagore, on Wednesday morning.

Shyamal Ganguly, 59, a resident of Kantapukur area of the town, got entangled with a live wire of the main power supply. Some local residents disconnected the power supply to rescue him and rushed him to a Chandernagore hospital where he was declared brought-dead.

Chandernagore police started a case of unnatural death.

His cousin Soumen Ganguly said: “My brother was the only bread-earner of the family and had been trying hard to earn a few extra bucks during the festive season. He had been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns.”

Earlier on Tuesday evening, a five-year-old boy died at Barasat in North 24-Parganas when a piece of mangled metal container that some boys used to burst crackers pierced his neck. The bizarre incident occurred at Baropole. The deceased Sayan Sen was standing at a distance when boys were bursting crackers. Police and local sources said some children were bursting crackers in the area and playfully placed a cracker inside a metal container and lit it.

“The mangled parts of the container went off like splinters as the cracker exploded and a metal part pierced Sayan’s neck injuring him fatally,” an eyewitness said. He was rushed to Barasat district hospital, where he succumbed to the injury.

In another incident, a helper of a Calcutta-bound state government bus coming from Cooch Behar died as he slipped off the vehicle on NH12 on Tuesday afternoon. The incident occurred at Awalsiddhi in Amdanga police station limits in North 24-Parganas district. Kartick Gosail, 43, was taken to Amdanga rural hospital, but succumbed to the injuries on the way.

Conductor of the bus Susanta Mitra said: “It is not clear how he slipped off the footboard while crossing the congested area of Amdanga. I was inside the bus and suddenly heard a hue and cry that someone had slipped off the bus. The bus stopped and I rushed out to find Kartick lying unconscious in a pool of blood. With the help of local residents, we took him to the Amdanga rural hospital, but he died on the way.”