A 23-year-old Papamoa man remains in critical condition in Middlemore Hospital with severe burns after he received an electric shock while working at an avocado orchard in Matapihi on Friday.
The metal cherry picker the contract worker was using touched high voltage power lines about 2.30pm, burning 50 per cent of his body.
Some residents reported hearing a loud bang as the man was shocked, knocked unconscious and engulfed in flames.
Mount Maunganui St John ambulance team manager Gary Bishell told the Bay of Plenty Times the injured man had extensive burns to his chest, back and arms.
He was rushed to Tauranga Hospital then airlifted to Waikato Hospital intensive care unit where he stayed overnight before being flown by a Westpac Waikato helicopter to Middlemore Hospital intensive care unit at midday on Saturday.
