The aftermath of a crippling ice storm in Slovenia has claimed its first victim, as an electrician was killed while trying to repair a broken power line near Maribor on Wednesday.
The accident happened when workers were trying to repair a transmission line brought down by the ice storm in a forest in Tinje na Pohorju, some 15 km east of Slovenia's second-largest city, police said.
A 20-year-old contractor for power distributor Elektro Maribor was electrocuted when he came in contact with the line as workers cleared the surrounding forest where the line had fallen. It is as yet unclear why the line was live.
Police said they have opened an investigation into the cause of the accident, which has also been confirmed by Elektro Maribor.
As many as 50,000 households around the country are still without power after what is the worst ice storm in living memory in Slovenia. The number had peaked at around 100,000 - a quarter of all households in Slovenia - on Monday.
Many transmission lines broke under the weight of the ice, while localised grids were damaged by falling trees.
In the Maribor area alone, around 7,000 households were reported to be without power yesterday.
Source: SloveniaTimes
