Copper wire thieves risking electrocution
BURLINGTON, ONTARIO - Halton police fear someone will die trying to steal expensive copper wire as thieves attack live transformers.
With scrap prices for copper and aluminum having doubled in the last two years and now at an 18-year high, police have noticed a "dangerous trend" in copper wire thefts from active, high-voltage equipment.
"The disturbing part is wire is being taken from active transformers," Detective Constable Ewen Crook said in a statement.
"In each case, the suspects took the grounding wire and did not touch the live wire. Police are concerned tampering with live wires could result in electrocution."
Crook said the Burlington break and enter squad reported five thefts in the city in October in which one-inch thick copper grounding wire was stolen. Police say they are working with reputable scrap metal dealers and other area police forces to track the thieves and have increased patrols in industrial areas. Police are asking that scrap metal and/or copper wire be secured and protected.
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HONG KONG - Nearly 600 Hong Kong families are still sweltering under the summer heat and facing dark nights without electricity after Typhoon Mangkhut cut off power supply to areas.
At Sheung Shui’s Tin Ping Estate in the New Territories, 384 families were still without power. They were told on Tuesday that a contractor would rectify the situation by Friday, or be fined HK$100,000 for each day of delay.
In remote areas such as outlying islets Kat O and Ap Chau, there were some 200 families still without electricity.
The power outage at Tin Ping Estate affected 16 floors – from the 11th…
