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A 16-year-old girl is in a critical condition in South Auckland's Middlemore Hospital after receiving a massive electric shock from a 33,000 volt power line in Nelson last night.
Constable Vaughan Joyce said police received reports of a person hanging from powerlines with their clothes alight at the Hastings Street substation about 10.50pm.
When emergency services arrived, they found the seriously injured girl lying beneath the lines.
She was taken to Nelson Hospital, but transferred to Auckland during the night.
A spokeswoman for the Counties Manukau District Health Board said the teen was in intensive care in a critical condition.
Nelson woman Helen Winstone was playing pool with friends at Charlie's Tavern opposite the substation when the power went out.
They looked out of a window facing the substation and saw something on fire.
"It was really hard to tell at the time. We thought someone had thrown something over the line...so we went outside and that is when we heard the screaming," she told The Nelson Mail.
"We could tell, even though you couldn't really see because of the flames, you could tell it was a girl by her screams."
The girl, who had been hanging by her leg or foot, fell just before the emergency services arrived.
"It was horrific," Miss Winstone said.
She said once the girl fell, they lost sight of her, apart from one arm, which was still on fire.
Nelson Electricity general manager Phil Goodall told the paper power was cut to about 4500 customers, from 10.45pm to 11.35pm.
Mr Goodall said the area broken into was a secure, fenced switchyard, and they were not yet sure how the girl had gained entry.
It appeared that, once inside, she 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."
Mr Goodall said the company, police and other authorities would investigate.
- NZPA
