CHENNAI: Two 17-year-old college students were electrocuted after a pole they were carrying came in contact with a high-tension power line near Sriperumbudur on Thursday morning.

The deceased were identified as N Delhi Ganesh and A Dakshinamurthy, both residents of Sirumangadu village. The duo was first-year students at a private college in the locality.

According to the police, the victims were plucking ice apples from a tree around 10 am. They were using a long harvesting pole fashioned from a green wooden staff with an iron sickle fitted at its tip.

While they were attempting to cut a cluster of fruit, the pole brushed against a nearby high-tension electricity line. The dampness of the green wood combined with the metal sickle acted as a conductor, causing both to get electrocuted instantly.

Though passersby alerted the 108 ambulance service and the victims were rushed to the Sriperumbudur Government Hospital, doctors pronounced them dead on arrival.

The Sriperumbudur police recovered the bodies and shifted them to hospital for postmortem. A case was registered and further investigation is under way.