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Bhubaneswar: In the recent memory, electrocution of a bus at Golanthra, near Berhampur, on Sunday that took a human toll of around 10 is second such 4-wheeler electrocution case in Odisha.
The State had such a tragic 4-wheeler electrocution incident in year 2016, when at least six persons electrocuted to death and over 20 injured after the bus in which they were travelling came in contact with a live wire at Bhuban in Dhenkanal.
But tragedy of the story is neither the discom authorities nor the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) has issued any SOP (standard operating procedure) to deal with such kind of disasters.
How SDMA comes into picture here? Since at times strong Norwesters may trigger such electrocution mishaps, therefore SDMA need to have such SOPs in place and they need to be communicated to all concerned.
But it's the major responsibility of the discom utilities to issue such a SOP to all and sundry, especially heavy commercial vehicles/passenger vehicle operators.
How SOPs could have helped the Golanthara mishap? Precious lives could have been saved since the bus has not caught fire post coming into contact with high voltage electric cable.
Reports say passengers get electrocuted when panicked over the mishap they tried to step out of the bus so as to save their lives. In fact, it's this act of desperation that pushed them into the electrocution trap.
Had the passengers have the knowledge that walking out in such situations will be akin to walking into death trap, they would not have moved out.
As per the SOP followed in such mishaps, all one have to do is contract the body as much as one can. The feet need to be pulled up from the floor of the vehicle body. And passengers inside should withdraw themselves from the metallic parts of the bus or similar 4-wheelers.
Significantly, cables carrying high voltage are dangerous because, they have a greater potential to kill. But it can do so if one lets the high voltage current to pass through the body.
Actually, there is always a danger of a 4-wheeler catching fire when such high tension live wire falls. It is the sparks generated post snapping of the cable trigger the fire when it comes into contact with inflammable accessories like tyres etc of a 4-wheeler.
Fortunately, both the electrocution mishaps involving buses in Odisha didn't trigger fire. Still the toll is high thanks to lack of SOP.
However, when a snapped live wire triggers fire in any 4-wheeler, as per the SOP the only course of action left is jumping out of the 4-wheerer in such a manner, whereby the entire body needn't touch the window/door frame and even the ground within 50 feet radius of the accident spot.
