An independent investigation will probe how a 15-year-old girl suffered an electric shock near a construction site for Sydney's CBD light rail project.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Tuesday described the incident as "appalling" and "absolutely devastating".
Fifteen-year-old Anna Lambden was injured at the Haymarket on Sunday near a light rail construction site when she took off her uncomfortable shoes and walked towards the train station in wet socks, according to her mother Viola Morris.
As she waited at the intersection of Ultimo Road and George Street she suddenly felt a sensation like pins and needles coursing through her body and dropped to the ground in the foetal position.
Passers-by who tried to help the teen were also shocked when they touched her, Ms Morris, from Wolli Creek, wrote on social media.
Ms Morris posted a photograph of herself and her daughter in Royal Prince Alfred hospital on Facebook on Monday, saying the incident could have been "catastrophic".
She said the experience was "one of the scariest moments of my entire parenting life".
"She could feel the electricity pulsing through her. She didn't know what it was. No one could touch her ... no one could comfort her," Ms Morris said.
Ms Morris suspects her daughter falling to the ground broke the contact between her feet and the current.
She said it was "totally unacceptable" that a child could get injured while simply walking along the footpath.
Ms Berejiklian said it was unacceptable.
"No pedestrian anywhere around a construction zone, no matter what project or incident it is, should have to face that risk," she told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.
Transport Minister Andrew Constance said the secretary of the department would investigate the accident, independent of all third parties, including Roads and Maritime Services and the light rail project.
"Work has stopped on site at the moment until that initial investigation is undertaken and we can work out exactly who is responsible and what has occurred," he told reporters.
"At this stage that is not clear. Ultimately we're very, very sorry to that family."
Asked whether the government or light rail could be liable, Mr Constance replied: "Let's just get to the bottom of what's happened first and go from there."
Transport NSW deputy secretary Tony Braxton-Smith says the site has been deemed safe and investigations are continuing.
"I can assure people that there have been teams on site to make sure the site is electrically safe. It's a very unusual incident and we are taking it extremely seriously and we want to get to the bottom of where the cause is and make sure things like that don't happen again," he told 2GB on Tuesday.
Labor's deputy leader Michael Daley blamed the government's previous cost-cutting measures to the NSW Department of Roads and Maritime Services and transport agencies.
"They don't have the capability to have project managers of their own on-site any more, and this is what happens when you cut budgets," he told AAP.
- Australian Associated Press
