Police are investigating how and why a 56-year-old man was in a disused, gutted factory when an electrical transformer exploded, leaving him with severe burns.
The man, Joseph Anderson, shocked members of the public when he staggered into a western Sydney petrol station covered in burns and pleading for help.
Wearing boots and little else, most of the man’s clothes had been burned away and much of his skin was peeling off.
He was formally identified by police on Saturday afternoon, with the assistance of his family.
According to 7 News, Mr Anderson was allegedly stripping the transformer for copper to sell as scrap metal when it exploded.
He had allegedly been collecting metal at the factory for the past week.
A police spokesman said investigators were “very interested in speaking to the man about why he was [at the factory] and what he was doing there”.
He confirmed the man had no reason to be in the vacant factory lot and that the owner of the property was assisting police.
The explosion is said to have occurred a short time before he arrived at the petrol station around 7.15pm on Friday.
While there was minimal damage to the factory building, the explosion caused considerable damage to the transformer.
The cause of the explosion is still under investigation.
Police are yet to interview Mr Anderson, who was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital where he remains in a critical condition.
“I’m going to pour a little bit of water on you, all right? Very slow,” the witness said.
“Thank you,” the injured man managed to reply, despite his pain, before urging his rescuers to “hurry”.
Emergency services attended the service station and found the man with burns to 50 per cent of his body.
Officers from Blacktown Police Area Command and specialist forensic officers are continuing their investigations.
Extracted from SMH