A family at Vaitele-uta is mourning the death of a 21-year-old employee of the Electric Power Corporation (EPC) who died from alleged electrocution on Wednesday.

The Samoa Observer was told Tevita Amituana’i was electrocuted while he was working on an electric pole. At about 3:30pm on Wednesday, his family was contacted and told about what had happened.

It was not possible to obtain a comment from EPC.

But Tevita’s death was confirmed by his family, who described the second eldest of three children, as a quiet and church going man.

He started work with EPC in July last year after he graduated from the National University of Samoa in 2017.

His grandmother, Fetu Amituanai, wept on a sofa as she reminisced about her grandson.

“He is such a quiet boy,” said the 88-year-old. “If Tevita is not at home you are sure to find him at the Pastor’s house. That was his home away from home.

“I miss him dearly. This is very hard for us because we did not expect to see him on his death bed…if he was sick at the hospital it would have been okay but to hear about his passing without a goodbye is heartbreaking.”

According to the grandmother, Tevita had the option of becoming a teacher or an electrician. He chose to be the electrician and his skills were always relied upon to connect the lights for popular 13 Days of Christmas event at Vaitele-uta.

“I told him not to become an electrician,” said the grandmother. “I warned him because I knew how hard that line of work is and the nature of the job. I warned him that it’s hard and can lead to accidents but now he is gone without a goodbye.”

The grandmother said her grandson was closely affiliated with the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa at Vaitele-uta.

“Every Sunday he rings the bell for the church,” she said. “We would tell him to prepare his clothes for church events but he always tells us not to worry about it because the pastor has his things ready.

“He was a church going boy and he enjoys spending time with his church family.”  

Kerisimasi Amituanai, Tevita’s mother, spoke fondly of her son.

She said that while their family attend the Methodist Church, Tevita chose the CCCS because of a friendship he shared with a neighbor since he was five years old.

“He has been going to Sunday school at that congregation ever since,” said the mother.   “Whenever we look for him, you will find him there…he is hard to forget because of his personality, very quiet and doesn’t answer back when I tell I’m off.”

The family said they would wait for the investigation by EPC and medical reports before they can finalise preparations for his funeral.