Four Civilians Electrocuted at San Diego Base

Four Navy civilian painters were electrocuted this morning when a scaffolding tilted and touched high-tension electrical wires at the San Diego Submarine Base, a Navy spokesman said.

A fifth person was critically injured in the accident and flown by helicopter to the University of California San Diego Medical Center.

“(The scaffolding) was pushed into the wires,” the spokesman said. “It tipped, tilted . . . and the scaffolding touched the wires, setting off the electrocutions.”

The accident occurred at about 9 a.m. The men were working for the San Diego Navy Public Works Center painting Argonaut Hall, a two-story office building on the submarine base at Ballast Point on Point Loma. The wires are about 10 to 20 feet west of the building, the spokesman said.