Close to midnight on Monday night, April 7,2003, a deafening blast was heard at the Volta River Authority's (VRA) Tarkwa Substation followed by power outage both at the Substation and Tarkwa Township.
Upon investigation of the source of the blast and power outage, the lifeless body of a young man was found 5 metres from the feeder structure with a hacksaw blade, torchlight, plier /cuter and knife lying by him.
The blast and subsequent power outage had evidently been caused by the young male intruder who had cut through the fence at the back of the Substation in an attempt to steal a 3kV underground cable from the substation. His ill-fated attempt ended when he was unfortunately electrocuted by the cable.
The police were informed of the incident and the body of the dead man has since been deposited at the Tarkwa mortuary.
Power was restored to the Tarkwa township within an hour of the incident at 12.32 a.m. when the damaged cable was disconnected. Thereafter, there has been no supply interruption to any customer served by the Substation. The VRA regrets the loss of life caused by his unfortunate stealing incident and wishes to caution cable thieves of the inherent danger in attempt to steal such cables.
