There is an element of tragedy anytime a young life is lost but, frankly, we have a couple of candidates for a Darwin award here. Messing with a vertical pipe over 25 feet long in the vicinity of overhead power lines is begging for an accident. At that age, they should have recieved some electrical safety education in school.
"If you make it idiot proof, the world will create a better idiot."
A few years ago I saw a thing on the news about a guy trying to snag an old fishing lure off of a hot primary distribution line. It had been hanging there from a piece of plastic fishing line for a long while and it just bugged him. He duct taped a hand gardening claw to a telescoping aluminum pole and tried to snag it from the ground, in spite of repeated warnings and pleading from his family. Almost immediately he hit the 7200v line and was fried in front of everyone.