A mother is seeking answers from Energy Fiji Limited (EFL) after her son tragically died on a job site in Suva. Anit Anitesh Ram, who lived in Vunivau and was employed by EFL, reportedly suffered a fatal electric shock while on duty on Tuesday.
His mother, Puspha Wati, received a call from EFL at around 9:22 AM notifying her that her son was admitted to Oceania Hospital following the incident. The family is devastated by the loss of their primary earner.
“I rushed to arrange a flight from Labasa to Suva to check on Anit, but after an hour, I was informed by relatives that he had passed away,” Ms. Wati said. She expressed frustration over her attempts to contact her son’s supervisor which were unsuccessful, and she has not received any communication from his employer.
Ms. Wati emphasized that her son would have adhered to safety protocols at work and is calling for transparency from EFL. “Typically, EFL swiftly communicates information about power outages, such as the one on the same day my son died, which interrupted a Parliament session. Yet, they fail to inform families about their employees’ deaths,” she claimed.
An email sent to EFL seeking comment on the incident had not received a response by the time of publication. Ms. Wati shared that Ram joined EFL in November last year and had requested a transfer to be nearer to his family.
“We are both ill, and Anit often reassured us that we didn’t need to worry because he would soon return,” she recounted. She noted that he had turned 26 on August 11 and was excited to participate in the Labasa Sanatan soccer tournament just before his untimely death.
“We invested years in raising him for a better life, hoping he would care for us in our old age, but now we have lost everything,” she lamented.
According to police spokesperson Ana Naisoro, Ram was found unresponsive at the scene and is believed to have died from electrocution. The police will wait for the post-mortem results to confirm the official cause of death.