Worker electrocuted, 2 others injured after pole strikes wire at N.J. construction site

WOODBRIGE TOWNSHIP, New Jersey -- One construction worker was killed as a result of electrocution at a construction site in New Jersey Friday morning.

It happened just before 8 a.m. on Quincy Court in Woodbridge Township.

Police said workers with a siding company were erecting a scaffolding to begin the project when the wind took down a 40-foot pole.

Two of the workers tried to grab the pole just as it struck a high tension wire.

They were shocked, and police on the scene attempted to resuscitate them until EMS arrived.

The two workers were taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. One was pronounced dead and the other remains in very critical condition.

A third worker sustained very serious burns and was taken to a hospital in Perth Amboy.

Area residents said the incident was loud and shook the neighborhood.

"I heard a loud noise, 'pow,'" one witness said in Spanish. "I looked out the window and saw the scaffolding fell, and the people standing on it fell. I saw that people were hurt. Two were in very bad condition. The other started rending aid like he was having a heart attack."

Work has been halted, and OSHA is conducting an investigation.