Two Lifeguards Electrocuted By Power Line

CREVE COEUR, Mo. (AP) _ Two country club lifeguards using an aluminum pole to untangle a rope on a flagpole were electrocuted when the pole touched a power line, authorities said.

Gregory Meyers, 20, and William Berra, 19, of St. Louis County were pronounced dead at St. John’s Mercy Medical Center after the accident Saturday, Sgt. Jesse Martin of the Creve Coeur Police said.

The rope on a 50-foot flagpole at the club had become tangled, Martin said, and, when the two lifeguards tried to free it with a 40-foot aluminum pole, it touched a 7,200-volt power line, electrocuting the two young men instantly.

The pole was still touching the power line and the lifeguards were still holding it when emergency personnel arrived, Martin said

″There was nothing anyone could do,″ he said.