Jewel McCollum said watching the events unfold from a Grainger County electrocution incident is both "heartbreaking" and "deja vu."
Jewel McCollum said watching the events unfold from a Grainger County electrocution incident is both "heartbreaking" and "deja vu."
"I said 'oh no, oh no, little kids.' What a shame, what a shame," McCollum said from her Maryville home Thursday.
Two years ago, McCollum was a victim from a similar shocking incident at the International Marina of Friendsville. On July 3, 2010, three women, one of them, McCollum's granddaughter, were shocked after a wire shorted on her family's boat.
McCollum dove into the water, only to be shocked herself.
"My ribs were in such bad shape where they done CPR, and everybody beating on my ribs," she added, "It took forever getting through that pain."
Friendsville Fire Captain Steve Hargis responded to that 2010 case. He said what happened then and what happened Wednesday are similar.
"Accidents happen, and that's the worse type of accident for anyone for this to happen, especially for a kid to be electrocuted," Capt. Hargis said.
As McCollum watches this event unfold on the TV screen, this grandmother said if there is any positive news, the survivors will make a full recovery.
"Really hurts you hard... if you survive it," McCollum said.