A 75-YEAR-OLD man had to be admitted at the Labasa Divisional Hospital after a live electric wire fell on his truck last week while he was returning home from the mosque.
Tahir Ali was on his way home to Salusalu Street in Labasa when the incident occurred about 5am on Thursday.
"I saw the live wire fall from the post on the side of the road and settle on my truck and then smoke started coming into the truck from the engine," Mr Ali said. "I stopped the truck and jumped out leaving the engine on as I feared for my life. The wire fell off from the wooden plank that sits on the top of the post," he said.
"The wooden plank looks old and rotten and the wire attached to the brown hook also fell off with the wire," he added.
His son Mohammed Ali said they took his dad to the hospital on Thursday night after he complained of pain in his body.
"He couldn't touch the water because everytime he did, his body reacted to a shock and so we took him to the hospital," Mr Mohammed said.
Divisional Medical Officer north Doctor Pablo Romakin referred all queries to hospital superintendent Dr Jaoji Vulibeci who could not be reached for a comment as he was on a day's leave.
Efforts to contact hospital administrator Albert Rosa proved futile as he was in a meeting.
However, Mr Mohammed said when the incident happened, they called the Fiji Electricity Authority emergency line on 913 but the operators could not make out whether it was Labasa or Savusavu. "We called them and explained to them the emergency is in Salusalu Street but the operator kept asking me whether it was in Savusavu.
"FEA team didn't turn up until 45 minutes later," he said.
When The Fiji Times arrived at the scene about 5:45am, there was no sign of an FEA response team.
Questions sent to FEA chief executive officer Hasmukh Patel last Thursday remained unanswered.
Phone calls made also remained unanswered.