
A 14-year-old Standard 5 learner at Kamuzu Palace Primary School, Pemphero Rajab has tragically lost his life after being electrocuted by an ESCOM wire.
Kawale Police PRO Precious Phiri told Malawi24 that the incident occurred on January 20, 2025, at the Area 44 Landscape Football Ground.
According to Phiri, Pemphero was playing football around 18:00 hours when the ball was accidentally thrown towards an ESCOM pole and got stuck between the pole and an anchored wire.
“In an attempt to retrieve the ball, Pemphero was electrocuted and collapsed. A friend who witnessed the event alerted his father, and together with neighbours, they rushed the boy to Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH), where he was pronounced dead upon arrival,” said Phiri.
Kawale police detectives along with ESCOM officials, visited the scene of the incident. A postmortem conducted at Kamuzu Central Hospital confirmed that the cause of death was electrocution.
The Kawale Police have urged residents to treat all ESCOM wires as live to avoid similar accidents in the future.
Pemphero Rajab hailed from Lameck Village, Traditional Authority Ndindi, in Salima District.