Mom’s heartbreak after toddler is electrocuted

18 January 2017 - 14:43 By Siyamtanda Capa
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DEVASTATED MOM: Andisiwe Njikilana, 19, says she did not want to let go of the body of her little boy
DEVASTATED MOM: Andisiwe Njikilana, 19, says she did not want to let go of the body of her little boy
Image: MARK WEST/HERALD

An anguished Port Elizabeth mother on Tuesday told how she clung desperately to her little son’s body as paramedics tried to prise him away from her after he was electrocuted.

Toddler Luniko Njikilana died while playing in the yard of his New Brighton home on Monday.

His distraught mother‚ Andisiwe‚ 19‚ told of her heartbreak as she watched paramedics frantically trying to revive her 15-month-old son.

Luniko was found unconscious by his aunt‚ Portia‚ at about 11am.

He was electrocuted when he touched a fence around the yard in the family’s home in the Chris Hani informal settlement.

Supplied

Toddler Luniko Njikilana was running around when his mom left home. Photo: Supplied via The Herald

An illegal electricity connection to the house runs from a central pole‚ where about 50 other shacks also connect their cables.

A hanging cable touched the roof of the family’s house‚ passing the current through the zinc walls of the shack to the fence.

The young mother came home from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University‚ where she had been following up on her university application‚ to a devastating scene.

A neighbour had called and told her to rush home‚ saying her child was not well.

“I started to panic when I saw people running in and out of the house‚ and when I came in I saw him lying on the couch‚ not moving‚” Njikilana said.

Full story here.

– TMG Digital/The Herald

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