Death by electrocution

A construction worker at a public high school died of electrocution Friday after he held a steel pipe that had accidentally come into contact with an open electrical wire.

Felomino Diomeda Jr., 27, a stay-in worker of the Manuel Roxas High School on President Quirino Avenue in Paco, Manila, was declared dead on arrival by attending doctors at the Sta. Ana Hospital from severe burns.

Police said Diomeda was doing plumbing repairs in the building and was fitting a long piece of steel pipe at around 3.30 p.m. on Friday when the metal accidentally got snagged on a low-lying electrical wire and touched an open portion.

Electricity surged through the steel pipe and through the worker’s body.

Diomeda’s coworkers, who saw him shaking violently as he held a piece of pipe, immediately pried the pipe out of his hand before bringing him to the nearest hospital.  But the effort to save him proved futile.