Shock as flower farm worker electrocuted

The deceased's metal-handle broom touched a live wire. [iStockphoto]

Operations in one of the flower farms in Naivasha were temporarily paralysed after a worker who was cleaning the roof of a greenhouse was electrocuted.

The victim was cleaning the roof when the metal handle of the broom touched a live wire before he was electrocuted as his colleagues scampered for safety.

Emotions ran high as police moved in to pick up the body from the flower farm at Nyondia off the Naivasha-Kirima road.

Naivasha OCPD Stephen Kirui said that the deceased alongside his colleagues had been assigned to work on the greenhouse roofs when the incident occurred.

Kirui said that initial investigations indicated that the incident was purely accidental though police have opened an inquest file.

"Initial reports indicated that the metallic broom he was using to clean the roof came into contact with a nearby power line leading to his death and the body has been taken to the local mortuary," he said.

Meanwhile, there was drama in Longonot after police moved in to evict herders who had invaded the area with their livestock.

During the midday incident, the herders from the Maasai community claimed that they had leased tens of acres of land from the owners for pasture.

One of the herders Jackson Angaine said that they had been living in the area for over two years and residents had not complained about their presence.

"One of the landowners is using members of the security team to evict us from this land and we are ready to go to court to oppose this," he said.

The OCPD, however, accused the herders of straying on private farms with their livestock leading to tension and anxiety in the area.

"Area residents have complained bitterly over the herders from the nearby county who have encroached on their land and we have peacefully evicted them," he said.