Friends of a talented teenage footballer who died after being electrocuted have described the awful moment disaster struck as they messed around on a football pitch near overhead power cables. Luke Bennett, from Chorley, had been playing football with seven of his close friends at Euxton Villa FC on March 6 in 2021.
The talented winger, who had spent time at the academies at Blackburn, Burnley and Preston before joining AFC Fylde, spent the afternoon at the club's pitches. He and two others started "messing about" with a metal pole used to segregate the subs bench from the 11-a-side pitch, LancsLive reports.
As the three attempted to stand the long pole up on its end it either touched, or came close enough to result in electricity arcing, to the overhead lines carrying 11,000 volts. All three "fell to the floor" and while Luke immediately stood up, he then collapsed again at around 6pm. The two other boys eventually regained consciousness but Luke died at the scene.
