A migrant sustained an electric shock as he tried to steal a live wire from a power pole in Pudong on Tuesday afternoon, Shanghai Morning Post reports.

At about 5:10 pm, the Haiyang Residential Complex went dark following a loud boom.

A man in his early 30s who had been trying to steal a live electrical wire from a power pole caused the blast and the subsequent power outage. He was thrown unconscious to the ground, the right side of his face, right shoulder and arm burned.

Two men who witnessed the incident ran off immediately afterwards.

The burnt man, who is still recovering in hospital, had been cutting a 380-KV wire attached to the pole when he was injured.

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