KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — A 31-year-old Japanese contractor working on a tree removal project here was electrocuted Monday morning.

According to Okinawa prefectural police, Tetsuya Hokama, of Onna, was found unconscious on the ground near Bob Hope Elementary School at 10:30 a.m. and was rushed Chubu Tokushukai Hospital in Okinawa City.

He was pronounced dead at 12:10 p.m.

Okinawa police are investigating the incident because the deceased was a local national, an 18th Wing spokeswoman said.

A police spokesman said Hokama was loading tree trunks onto a truck in the parking lot of the school when a boom of the crane he was operating came into contact with an electrical wire and sent 13,800 volts of electricity through his body.

The police spokesman said Hokama was involved in removing dying pine trees that have become infested with the pine sawyer beetle.

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