A PAIR of cable thieves burnt to death at around 04:00 in Lotus Park when they allegedly tampered with a power box on Cocos Avenue, plunging residents of the area and surrounding vicinity into darkness.

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According to Dhevan Govindasamy, spokesperson for PT Alarms, eThekwini firefighters doused the burning power box and police thereafter commenced with investigations.

Govindasamy said the security company’s response teams and ambulance services attended to the grim scene of the two men already dead, having suffered extensive burns.

“It is believed that the men were tampering with a power box when they were electrocuted and burned to death,” Govindasamy said.

Ward 90 councillor Shad Nowbuth explained that the vandalism and subsequent explosion of the Cocos Avenue mini-substation affected a further six substations from Cocos Avenue to Tipuana Crescent. He said that the substation has been isolated to allow for repair work to commence.

“Most of Isipingo Rail, including Isipingo Hills, Malaba Hills, Pilgrim informal settlement and Isipingo CBD will be off due to separate faults. Several cable faults have been identified, including that of Redbro Substation, resulting in several other substations being off,” said Nowbuth.

He added that depot staff will be attending to the outages and electricity should be restored later this evening.

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