Two men died and five other people, including two children, from two families were injured after they were electrocuted by an electrified fence set up by a local resident to keep out deer and other wild animals from hydrangeas in Nishi-Izu, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Sunday.

According to police, the group consisted of two men aged 42 and 47, three women and two children aged 8 and 3. Fuji TV reported that the incident occurred at around 4:40 p.m.

An electrified fence had been put up along a riverbank. Police said one of the men suffered an electric shock when he entered the river, while the others were electrocuted as they tried to assist him.

All seven were taken to hospital where the two men were pronounced dead late Sunday.

Locals who live near the river have said that deer have been causing quite a bit of damage, and therefore it was decided that an electrified fence would be erected in order to ward the animals off, Fuji reported.

However, police later found that a part of the fence had been cut and that one of the cables supplying power to the fence was dangling in the river, which is likely to have caused the seven people to have gotten electric shocks.

Japan Today