Suspected thief dies while allegedly vandalising TCN electricity transmission tower

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on Saturday said its linemen found a suspected vandal dead under a collapsed vandalised transmission tower in Delta.

The company’s management, in a statement in Abuja, said the incident occurred on the 330-kilovolt (kV) Ughelli-Benin transmission line in Delta State.

The statement said the incident was discovered during an intensive line patrol by the Delta Sub-Region Lines Maintenance Department of TCN.

It said the patrol followed the tripping off of the affected line due to an earth fault on the transmission line.

According to the TCN, the patrol team traced the fault to Tower 101, which collapsed. Patrolmen met the corpse of the suspected vandal crushed between the tower members.

”Further inspection revealed that tower 101 on the adjacent Ughelli – Sapele 330kV transmission line had also been seriously vandalised.

“The tower is still standing as at the time of this report,” it said.

The statement also quoted the TCN as condemning vandalism of its infrastructure and appealing to host communities and the public to remain vigilant.

The company urged the public to report any suspicious activities around power installations to security agencies and TCN offices nearest to them.

”The fight against the vandalism of power infrastructure is one that must be inclusive. All hands must be on deck for this fight to be won.

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”This incident is a tragic reminder of the extreme dangers of tampering with power infrastructure.

”Vandalism not only leads to power outages and damage to national assets, but it also endangers lives.

“Protecting power infrastructure is a civic responsibility. Stop the vandals, or they will stop power for us all,” it said.

(NAN)