Three policemen killed in Beaufort, believed electrocuted
Sabah police commissioner Jauteh Dikun said initial investigations found one of the officers was trying to bring down coconuts with a metal pole when it touched a live cable.
BEAUFORT – Three policemen died in an incident believed to have been caused by electrocution along Jalan Weston in Kampung Weston here.
Bernama reported that several videos of the incident quickly went viral on social media, showing three men lying on the road as onlookers gathered nearby.
In a statement, the Sabah fire and rescue department operations centre said it received a distress call at 5.56pm.
A team of seven firefighters from the Beaufort fire and rescue station was deployed to the location, approximately 28km from the station.
"The initial report stated that three victims had been electrocuted along Jalan Weston, Kampung Weston, before the fire brigade was deployed to carry out rescue operations," the statement read.
Operations commander Irwan Abdul led the team, assisted by the police and Sabah Electricity personnel.
Meanwhile, Sabah police commissioner Jauteh Dikun said initial investigations revealed that one of the policemen was trying to bring down some coconuts when the incident occurred, Berita Harian reported.
"One of them is believed to have used a metal pole to poke at the coconuts to try and bring it down, but he lost his balance and the pole touched a live electric cable.
"When the other two policemen went to help their colleague, they too were electrocuted," he was quoted as saying.
He identified the three deceased as Chiu Teck Siong, 40; Nur Hafiz Ibrahim, 29; and Raimi Ismarubee, 26.
Jauteh said the remains of the three policemen were sent to the Beaufort Hospital for a post-mortem before being released to their next of kin.
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