It happened just before 8 a.m. on Quincy Court in Woodbridge Township.
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Police say workers with a siding company were erecting a scaffolding to put up the siding 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.
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The two workers were taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, where one was pronounced dead and the other is in very critical condition.
A third worker sustained very serious burns and was taken to a hospital in Perth Amboy.
Area residents say 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.
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