The body of a man who was electrocuted was found in an underground utility vault in Richmond following a reported explosion Tuesday morning.
Richmond Deputy Chief Aaron Osorio told CBS News Bay Area a call came in at about 3 a.m. for an explosion in the area of Cutting Boulevard.
"It appears this vault was being accessed by unhoused individuals, possibly for shelter. At this point, we suspect that's why the person was down there. There's no other indication as to why the individual would be down there. It wasn't a worker."
"The explosion that was reported, it appears to be that was when this person came in contact with the energized electrical and that was the explosion sound that individuals heard and called 9-1-1 about. There was no actual fire … no eruption," he said.
Crews were not able to immediately recover the body as there was water in the vault. They had to wait on PG&E to reroute electricity, Osorio said.
The man was removed from the vault about 2:45 p.m.
