The death of two people from electric shock after stepping in a puddle during a downpour in Turkey’s western İzmir province last week has caused widespread anger, with many accusing local authorities and the city’s electricity provider of negligence, the Birgün daily reported on Monday.
Twenty-three-year-old Özge Ceren Deniz was electrocuted when she stepped into a large puddle in a well-used street in Konak on July 12. A passerby, 44-year-old İnanç Öktemay, was also electrocuted while trying to help Deniz. Both died at the hospital, and the street was closed to the public.
The moments of their tragic death were caught by a security camera in the area. The wide circulation of the video on social media has caused public anger and calls for those responsible for the incident to give an accounting in court for their alleged negligence.
The incident triggered debates about the privatization of electricity distribution in the country, where the assets and obligations of the Turkish Electricity Distribution Company (TEDAŞ), a state-owned enterprise, were transferred to private companies between 2004 and 2013, during the rule of the current Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.
Locals, shopkeepers and experts blamed GDZ Electricity Distribution Company, responsible for İzmir’s electricity, and the İzmir Municipality for failing to fix exposed wires on the street for years.
Mahir Ulutaş, chairman of the Chamber of Electrical Engineers (EMO), said such problems stemming from a lack of supervision arise as a direct result of the privatization of electricity distribution.
He said the incident showed that public services should be provided only by the state, adding that accusations by the İzmir Municipality and the GDZ Electricity Distribution Company against one another were “tragicomic.”
While the company blamed the municipality for the construction of storm water gratings without approval and damaging the network, the municipality claimed that the company had carried out maintenance and repair work on the power lines alongside the storm water gratings.
İsmail Okan Güney, a relative of Deniz, said negligence played a major role in the incident, recalling news about the leakage of electricity in the same place five years ago and the electrocution death of a stray dog two months ago.
The initial findings of the technical committee formed by the İzmir branch of EMO showed that there was an insulation fault in the cables going from the transformer centers to the distribution panels on the street where the incident occurred.
Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç on Sunday announced on X that the İzmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation over the incident and issued detention warrants for 29 people, including nine İzmir Water and Sewage Administration (IZSU) employees and 20 employees and officials from the GDZ Electricity Distribution Company. Twenty of the suspects have been detained so far, according to a report by the state-run Anadolu news agency on Monday.
#İzmir'in Konak ilçesinde sağanak yağıştan korunmaya çalışırken elektrik akımına kapılan 2 kişinin hayatını kaybetmesiyle ilgili İzmir Cumhuriyet Başsavcılığı tarafından başlatılan adli soruşturma titizlikle sürdürülmektedir.
Soruşturma kapsamında, bilirkişi ön raporuna göre…
— Yılmaz TUNÇ (@yilmaztunc) July 14, 2024