Five men have died and four others hospitalised after they were electrocuted when the billboard they were about to install touched a high-tension wire, near the Obiri-Ikwerre flyover along the East-West road on Monday.

At the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, UPTH, where concerned passers-by took the victims, it was gathered that they were private businessmen who were contacted to mount a billboard for a Church along the Rumuosi axis, near the Obiri-Ikwerre flyover.

Some of the victims are welders who fabricate metals at the MCC along Ikwere Road close to the Federal Government College, Port Harcourt.

At the time of filing this report, it was not immediately clear if the Rivers State Signage and Advertising Agency, RISSA, an agency that regulates the mounting of Billboards, gave its approval.

Our Correspondent reports, however, that mounting billboards under high-tension wires is prohibited in the state.

Both the Rivers State Police Command and RISSDA had not spoken on the incident at the time of filing this report.