NZ Leader Blasts Utility Over Death

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Prime Minister Helen Clark on Friday lashed out at the "heartless" actions of a utility company that cut the power to a woman who needed an electric oxygen pump to breathe, possibly leading to her death.

State-owned utility company Mercury Energy insisted it was not aware that 44-year-old Folole Muliaga depended on the machine to survive when it cut her power over a $122 unpaid bill.

Muliaga's family have claimed that both she and her son told the technician Tuesday that she needed the oxygen machine to stay alive, and invited him into the house to see it. A relative, Brenden Sheehan, told The Associated Press that the technician cut the power …