Five-year-old electrocuted by drop cord

Jan 23, 2009 News

The life of a five-year-old girl was snuffed out after she came into contact with a live wire in her house at Number Five Village, West Coast Berbice.
Montoya David was pronounced dead at the Fort Wellington Hospital, where she was rushed at about 20:00 hours on Wednesday night.
At the time of the incident, the child’s mother was at work and the child was in the company of her older siblings.
Speaking to this newspaper yesterday, a distraught Erica Johnson said that she was at work on the Berbice River Bridge when she got the telephone call.
“My cousin called me and told me to come home. I asked her for what, and she said that one of the children get shock. I asked her if is Montoya and she said yes. I then asked my supervisor if I could leave, and went home,” Johnson said.  However, by that time, her daughter had already been taken to the hospital.
The woman said that she was told that little Montoya had just finished bathing, and was heading towards the bedroom when she came into contact with a drop cord that is connected to a DVD player.
According to Johnson, a part of the cord is wrapped with scotch tape.
“The wire like it wrap around she foot and she tried to loose it. But because she skin wet, it shock she,” Johnson told this newspaper.
Montoya’s other siblings could do nothing to save her except to call out to neighbours for assistance.
By the time assistance arrived, the child had already sustained severe electrical shock.
Police are investigating the matter.