KEY POINTS:
A 16-year-old girl remains in a life-threatening condition in South Auckland's Middlemore Hospital today after receiving a massive electric shock from a 33,000 volt power line in Nelson on Tuesday night.
It was understood that she underwent an operation last night.
A Counties-Manukau District Health Board spokeswoman said today the girl was in a critical condition in an induced coma.
The drama began to unfold when police received reports of a person hanging from powerlines with their clothes alight at Nelson's Hastings Street substation about 10.50pm.
Constable Vaughan Joyce said when emergency services arrived, they found the seriously injured girl lying beneath the lines.
She was taken to Nelson Hospital, but transferred to Auckland that night.
Nelson Electricity general manager Phil Goodall said power was cut to about 4500 customers, from 10.45pm to 11.35pm.
Mr Goodall said the area entered was a secure, fenced switchyard.
It appeared that, once inside, the girl climbed a 10m pole before getting hooked up in the wire and being electrocuted for a period of time before falling to the ground.
"It's pretty nasty," Mr Goodall said.
He said it was the first time something like this had happened on the Nelson Electricity network.
"By virtue of someone getting in, we need to work out exactly how, and why, and what we need to do to make sure it can't happen again."
- NZPA
