Pauktaw and Minbya locals say sagging power cable is electrocuting people, disrupting river traffic

By DMG 10 Jul 2022

DMG Newsroom
9 July 2022, Pauktaw

Overhead cables that run alongside a bridge spanning the Swun Ye River on the Pauktaw-Minbya road in Arakan State continue to sag dangerously low to the water, posing a danger to those who travel via the river.

“It is the rainy season now, and when the tide is high, it is extremely dangerous to fishermen and travellers. A few people were killed or hospitalised because of electrocution recently,” said U Kyaw Thaung Hla, the administrator of Swun Ye village in Minbya Township.

During heavy rainfall or high tide, the clearance between the river’s surface and some of the power cables is little more than three feet, he said. Electric shocks tend to occur around the middle of the bridge, where the dip in the cables is at its lowest point, he added.

A resident had to be hospitalised on June 26 after he accidentally touched a cable, and a 17-year-old boy was electrocuted when the boat he was in likewise encountered the power lines recently.

When rainfall swells the river, residents say large boats have to wait to pass until the water level falls.

“Some large vessels can’t cross during high tide and have to wait. Smaller vessels can cross from the side. More people will be harmed if that cable is not fixed,” said Swun Ye villager U Maung Oo Phyu.

DMG first reported on the problematic power lines in February. Locals say they have reported the issue to the Pauktaw Township electricity office, but the office has not yet come to fix it.

The head of the Pauktaw Township electricity office, U Kyaw Myo Win, said the office plans to replace the old cable line with a new one, with the work expected to start next month.

“We have reported to upper-level authorities to replace it. The new one will be six metres higher than the current one,” he told DMG.

The Swun Ye River separates Pauktaw and Minbya townships, and the river is used daily by fishing trawlers, vessels transporting gravel and sand, and boats ferrying passengers between Pauktaw, Minbya and Myebon.