3 Zambo Boy Scouts electrocuted

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Three Boy Scouts died, three in critical condition and nine others suffered electric burns in their bodies after the Boy Scout tent they were carrying going to a Boy Scout Jamboree camping site in Sitio Abong-Abong in Barangay Pasonanca in Zamboanga City hit a live electric wire of the Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative in this city.

Butch Ignacio Alejabo, overall in charge of the Boy Scout Jamboree, said yesterday that about 15 Scouters were carrying their tent from the Barangay main road to the Boy Scout Camp located at the Freedom Park in Sitio Abong-Abong, Barangay Pasonanca, when the incident happened at about 9 a.m. on Thursday.

Alejabo said, "While they were carrying the tent, a steel tube of the tent hit a hanging electric wire in the area that caused the current to flow into the tent they were carrying and electrocuted the scouters."

Three scouters were hit severely by the current and died on the spot while three were in critical condition and nine others suffered wounds and burns on their bodies and were rushed to the Zamboanga City Medical Center for treatment.

According to the police, the victims were mostly senior high schools coming from the different senior high schools in this city.

Police personnel who were on post at Boy Scout Camp immediately responded to the incident in coordination with the Zamboanga City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office ambulance and rushed the victims to the ZCMC for medical intervention.