Kasaragod: A mentally ill person created a scare when he climbed the distribution transformer and walked on the power cables at Mavungal near Kanhangad Saturday afternoon.

The timely intervention of residents and the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) saved his life.

The 25-year-old, who ran away from a rehabilitation centre, spent more than an hour on top of the transformer and power lines before he was brought down by the police and Fire and Rescue personnel.

"Around 1.30 pm, we got a call saying someone was trying to climb the transformer at Pairadukam. We immediately pulled the plug to the main 11kV feeder line," said Sunil Kumar, sub-engineer, electrical section, Mavungal.

The feeder line supplies power to the District Hospital, Chemvattomvayal, and also goes to Kanhangad town.

Later, KSEB rushed to the Pairadukam transformer and turned off the tap line to the local area, and restored the main feeder line.

By that time, the man was sitting atop the 9-metre-high transformer. "He then started walking on the power cables. But we had turned off the high and low tension lines," said Sunil Kumar.

He was brought down around 2.30 pm.

The man had created a similar ruckus at Cheruvathur railway station on Friday. Chandera Police brought him to Snehalaya rehabilitation centre for mentally ill patients at Ambalathara around 6.30 pm on Friday.

"When he was brought here in an ambulance, he was sedated and had only his underwear on him. His hands and legs were tied up and there were bruises and welts all over his body. The people might have beaten him up," said brother Eso Das, who manages the rehab centre.

The staff at the centre gave him a bath and new clothes. "He did not speak much. But had food and slept," he said.

Saturday morning, he brushed his teeth on his own and told us that he was from Patna and his father's name was Ganesh. After breakfast, he said he wanted to take a walk on the premises. "Around 8.15 am, we realised he had jumped the 8ft compound wall and escaped," he said.

The brother informed Hosdurg and Chandera Police.

Around 9.30 am, when Brother Eso Das was taking another patient to the hospital, he saw the man walking near Anandashram, 5km away. "I stopped my car and tried to get him in. As soon as he saw me he ran. I ran behind him for 500m. Then he took off his shirt and sprinted through the crowd," he said. "I could not keep pace."

Then around 1.30 pm, Brother Eso Das came to know that he was atop a transformer. By evening, the Hosdurg police delivered him to the Snehalaya again.