PRANKSTERS came within a hair’s breadth of being burnt to death in a 11,000 volt explosion, during a weekend accident at Park Farm.

Police believed it was children who climbed into a factory-owned mobile ten-ton crane and caused it to shoot forward into an electricity sub-station.

The crane, belonging to Simon-Hartley sewage equipment manufacturers, knocked down a brick wall and moved the transformer and the 200-gallon oil tank two feet along the ground.

Police spokesman Super-intendent Eddie Barry said between £4,000 and £6,000 worth of damage was done to the Crossgate Depot sub-station and twenty factories lost a day’s business on Monday because of a blackout.

“I can’t understand why it didn’t explode,” said an MEB employee. “The 11,000 volts would have caused an explosion and a fire ball could have engulfed the station and the crane.

“Whoever was in the crane was very lucky to have escaped unharmed because they would have been killed without a doubt,” he said.