A man who tried to force his way into an ENMAX power station in southeast Calgary was found dead by emergency crews on Thursday morning.
Police were called to ENMAX substation 31 in the 3500 block of 80 Ave. S.E. at about 2:45 a.m.
It appears a man was trying to break into the building and was electrocuted.
The man tripped an electronic alarm and an ENMAX emergency worker found him dead within the fenced compound.
Police say evidence at the scene indicates this was an attempted metal theft.
"In Calgary, in 2008, there was a death that was related to copper theft, this occured at the old General Hospital site in an underground utility vault," said A/S/Sgt. Jason Bobrowich of the CPS Stolen Property Unit.
Bobrowich says there have been about 80 deaths directly related to copper theft around the world in recent years.
The man is in his 40s and has not yet been identified.
"The risks that the offenders put themselves, first responders, and emergency work crews attending these locations through is significant and very unfortunately we've seen the reality of what can happen when locations where there is live electricity is targeted and resulted in the unfortunate death of an individual," said Bobrowich.
ENMAX says power has been restored to the substation and there were no outages reported as a result.
Anyone with information on is asked to call police at 403-266-1234 or Crime Stoppers anonymously using any of the following methods:
TALK: 1-800-222-8477
TYPE: tttTIPS.com
TEXT: tttTIPS to 274637
