Kite flier electrocuted; used wire instead of string

Mar 20, 2006

Kite flying in March is about as Belizean as you can get, but a family is in mourning tonight after an accident in Sandhill Village left a loved one dead. News Five’s Jacqueline Woods has the story.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting

Shortly before five on Sunday evening twenty-six year old Kennon Hernandez decided to take advantage of the windy weather and fly a kite. Hernandez was on his family?s property in Sandhill only a few yards away from the road; but within minutes, the young man was electrocuted.

Romulo Hernandez, Father of the Deceased

?Well at home no one wouldn?t think that he would have done it, because he knows; he works with electricity, he knows about it.?

Romulo Hernandez says his son had been flying the kite for one of his nieces, but he came back to the house looking for more string because he wanted the kite to go higher. For some reason he ended up using a piece of this copper wire to go and fly the kite. But after raising the toy in the air it apparently broke away near these high tension power lines. The copper wire then fell back down on top of the power lines. Hernandez, who was holding onto the end of the wire, was shocked and thrown several feet back on the ground.

Romulo Hernandez

?He couldn?t find any string, so he picked up a piece of the electrical wire and took it with him and join it on the same line and string the kite higher. It so happens that the kite popped away and the wire came falling down on the high tension wire.?

?A little boy, who knew him well was passing on his bike and saw the kite flying, going. He see Kennon there with the thing and so he went there and when he looked up he saw the wire running from the high tension wire smoking. And so he run over and hail us and say the boy is over there electrocuting.?

Hernandez says when he got to the site Kennon was lying on the ground badly burned and in pain.

Romulo Hernandez

?Well that the moment he just look like red, a red looking colour that he got burned in the sun or something like and like some foam wanted to come out of his mouth, like spit sorry. When I picked him up he was still groaning and then all of a sudden he just stop groan.?

Hernandez rushed his son to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, but he died shortly after being admitted for treatment. Hernandez says their son did electrical and mechanical work so he should have known the dangers involved. Today, the Hernandez family is using their son?s tragic death as a warning to other families and their children to be careful especially around this time of the year.

Estella Hernandez, Mother of the Deceased

?I advised them to listen to what their parents tell them fi noh to fly kite or touch the wire them and so because it?s dangerous.?

Romulo Hernandez

?When they are flying, if they happen to be around any electrical wire make sure that they don?t use something that can conduct current, because that?s what happened, the line conduct current. And if it is possible, wear a tennis on the foot or something rubber so it doesn?t conduct anything and hurt.?

Jacqueline Woods for News Five.

Today the Belize Electricity Limited issued a press release in which they urge the public to practise the following kite flying safety tips. Never use wire, it is a conductor of electricity and you could be electrocuted. Always use dry string or wood and paper in your kite. Never fly your kite near the path of incoming aircraft. Always fly your kite away from TV and radio aerials, power lines, or substations. Always keep away from fallen wires. Never fly kites on or near public highways. Never fly kites in wet or stormy weather. Never attempt to remove a kite from power poles yourself. If your kite gets snagged or entangled in a power line, please call BEL at 0-800-235-2273.