2 contractors electrocuted while working on New York power lines identified
WARWICK, Orange County (WABC) -- Police have identified two contractors who died Monday after being electrocuted while working on power lines in Orange County.
Authorities say 51-year-old Derrick Paris, of West Caldwell, New Jersey, and 28-year-old Justin McLoughlin, of Trenton, Georgia, were working as private contractors for Orange and Rockland Utilities.
They were working on the lines that cross Mount Peter in Warwick when they were electrocuted just before noon Monday.
Officials said they were tightening a guy wire at the base of a transmission pole.
"The guy wire became energized at some point for some reason, and that's in the investigation," company spokesman Mike Donovan said. "We don't know that reason, and I don't want to kid you to think we do."
Federal and state investigators are looking into what specifically energized the wires, which typically are not electrified.
The utility company is also conducting its own investigation.
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