FOUR people have been electrocuted to death after their religious float hit overhead cables during a procession.
Another 10 people were also injured during the Muharram procession in Jharkhand’s Bokaro district, India.
The group’s religious float, made of iron, came in contact with a live wire, police confirmed.
Footage showed members of the procession carrying the float down the street, when an electric shock sound was heard and a few men started falling to the ground.
“The incident occurred around 6am on Saturday while they were preparing for a Muharram procession,” Bokaro Superintendent of Police Priyadarshi Alok said.
“They were carrying a religious flag and its pole was made of iron. It somehow came in contact with a high-tension electric wire of 11,000 volts.”
All injured people have been taken to a nearby hospital.
Eight of them were referred to the Bokaro General Hospital, where four succumbed to their injuries and three were stated to be in critical condition, the officer added.
The Mourning of Muharram, also known as the Muharram procession or observances, is a set of commemoration rituals observed primarily by Shia Muslims.
The commemoration falls in Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar.
Earlier this year, at least 35 worshippers were killed after plunging into a deep well as a makeshift floor collapsed at a temple in India.
Emergency services raced to the scene in Indore after the floor caved in while more than 40 people were performing a fire ritual to celebrate a Hindu festival.
At least 35 people, mostly women and children, have died.
The army was called in at 11pm as the desperate rescue operation continued into the night.
Underwater cameras from divers revealed grisly images of bodies floating in the muddy waters, Times of India reports.
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