New Zealand linemen injured in pylon flash explosion
22 April 2013
Two men are recovering from burns after the power pylon they were working on exploded, cutting electricity to nearly 800 homes in Warkworth, north of Auckland, New Zealand, on April 22. The Electrix employees were in a cherry picker and police said the men appeared to have been injured in a flash explosion that left them both with burns to the face and neck.
"It appears they had all the right equipment because their eyes were fine - you could see where they had their glasses on. They had quite severe burns to their faces and necks and top of the shoulders, but otherwise they should be fine,” a policeman said. “We couldn't see any entry or exit points [so] as far as we could tell it was a flash explosion."
The cause of the explosion was unknown, Electrix investigator Morne Green told the New Zealand Herald.
The blast cut power to 768 dwellings in Warkworth and Matakana.