A lineman for the V.I. Water and Power Authority was fatally electrocuted late Tuesday while working to restore power at a major shopping center in St. Thomas, according to a statement from the V.I. Emergency Operations Command Tuesday night. It is the fifth confirmed fatality since Hurricane Irma struck Sept. 6. The statement had no details of who was killed or the exact location of the incident.
During Gov. Kenneth Mapp’s statement to the press on relief efforts Tuesday evening, Police Commissioner Delroy Richards urged St. Thomas and St. John residents to observe the 6 p.m.-noon curfew in part to make it safer for WAPA.
“WAPA is trying to energize the islands and obviously it is only beneficial if you remain out of their particular way as they try to do that,” Richards said.