California Man, 24, Dies from ‘High Voltage Electrocution’ While Hanging Up Christmas Lights 

A Southern California man has died from "high voltage electrocution" while hanging up Christmas lights. 

Antonio Pascual Mateo, 24, was putting the lights on the roof of a home in Escondido when he threw the cable over a nearby high-voltage power line at 10:48 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 21, according to a San Diego County Examiner’s report. 

“Paramedics arrived on scene to find the decedent hanging upside down from a tree. After recovering the decedent, paramedics initiated advanced cardiovascular life support and transported the decedent to the nearest local hospital,” the medical examiner stated. 

Escondido resident Mateo was transported to Palomar Medical Center where, despite “aggressive” life-saving efforts, he was pronounced dead an hour and 20 minutes later.

The official cause of death was concluded to be high voltage electrocution, per the Examiner's report.

Escondido Battalion Chief told Fox 5 San Diego of the incident that first responders “found a worker suspended in the air via a waist harness, it appeared that he had come in contact with some high-power tension lines.”

The Escondido Fire Department did not immediately reply when contacted by PEOPLE for further information.

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A GoFundMe page has been set up by Mateo’s family to raise money for him to be brought back to his home country of Guatemala for burial. The page has so far received nearly $10,000 in donations. 

According to the page, Mateo “fell” in a tree and was left “trapped for an hour” there after being electrocuted as the rescue team was “forced to wait until the power company had to turn off power.”

The family added that it was unfortunately “too late to save” Mateo. 

“He was a brother, a son and an uncle … He had so much to live [for], only 24 years old. He had been working on putting up Christmas lights around the tree. He always took care of his mother and family,” the family shared. "...forever young he will remain. Christmas lights forever have a meaning to us, he will remain in our hearts for eternity."