Vijayawada: Five members of a family were electrocuted here on Tuesday after they came in contact with a live wire, police said.

The incident took place in Urmilanagar during the early hours when one of the family members Venkata Subba Reddy, who was transporting material for their under-construction house, touched a live wire, they said.

Hearing his cries for help, Reddy's family including his wife and son ran to save him and also came in contact with the live wire resulting in the death of five persons while leaving two others seriously injured, SI Durga Prasad from Bhawanipuram Police Station told. The victims were pronounced dead on arrival at the government hospital here and were identified as P Venkata Subba Reddy (50), his wife Thirupatamma (45), his son Srinivas Reddy (28), his brother Nagarjuna Reddy (40), his another brother Thirupathi Reddy (38).

After the incident, TDP MLC Buddha Venkateswara Rao, who visiting the family of the deceased, told reporters that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has agreed to pay an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the families of the deceased