Pylon shock: Wollongong Police Sergeant Darrell Simmons attends the incident off Harry Graham Drive. Picture: KIRK GILMOUR
A Gwynneville man was taken to Wollongong Hospital with burns to 45 per cent of his body after being found collapsed on Harry Graham Drive just before noon yesterday.
Police believe the 36-year-old suffered an electric shock from 33,000-volt Illawarra Coal power lines located about 100 metres from the road on Sydney Catchment Authority land in Kembla Heights.
"Our information is that he got up [the power pylon] by way of ladder and he also had a harness," Wollongong duty officer Inspector Dan Richardson said.
"He has [received an electric shock] and managed to get down himself, run a short distance before he has fallen to the ground."
He was seen by a passing truck driver, who stopped to call emergency services, and was transported to hospital in a serious condition with burns to his chest and back.
Late yesterday the man remained in a serious condition and had been placed in an induced coma in Wollongong Hospital.
Investigators and forensic police sealed off the site as a crime scene.
A car with a climbing rope on the back seat was found parked in front of access gates to restricted Sydney Water Catchment land.