A man apparently was electrocuted in Eden Township Monday afternoon while trying to cut copper wires from an active high-voltage line.

State police from Lancaster's Troop J late Monday night still were trying to identify the man, who was found around 2 p.m. on the abandoned Enola Low-Grade Line, just east of Pumping Station Road.

Although trains have not run on the Norfolk Southern rail line for many years, Amtrak maintains active power lines along the Enola corridor.

The overhead catenary lines carry electricity generated at Safe Harbor hydroelectric plant across southern Lancaster County to an active Amtrak rail line in Atglen.

The electricity powers trains that run across part of Amtrak's East Coast corridor.

According to state police, troopers called to the scene Monday afternoon found a man lying on the ground beneath one of the metal towers carrying the Amtrak power lines. Police did not say who called them to the scene.

In a news release, police stated that "evidence and equipment at the scene suggest that the individual had climbed the metal tower and was attempting to cut the copper electrical wires, not knowing or realizing that they were charged with electricity."

Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni said the man was declared dead at the scene by Chief Deputy Coroner Eric Bieber and Deputy Coroner Jim Lingg.

The man's body was taken to the county morgue Monday. An autopsy is scheduled for today.

"It appears likely the cause of death will be electrocution and the manner of death will be accidental," Diamantoni said.

The man carried no identification, police said. The victim's fingerprints were taken by a state police forensics unit so they can be used to perhaps identify him.

Stealing copper has become common in Lancaster County as prices of metals have skyrocketed over the past two years due to a demand for raw materials in Asia and other developing countries.

A pound of copper that sold for 60 cents three years ago, for example, is currently worth more than four times that amount.

Two men were arrested in the city Friday afternoon after they allegedly broke into a vacant building to strip it of its wiring. Copper wiring had been stolen from the building twice in the previous four days.

Newspaper records show more than a dozen incidents since Jan. 1 involving various products made of copper being reported stolen all over the county.

Anyone with information about Monday's incident in Eden Township is urged to call state police at 391-6944.

E-mail: preilly@lnpnews.com