An American tourist was killed by an electric shock as he slipped and grabbed a faulty streetlight for support in Thailand.
The 33-year-old victim from New York was walking to a Phuket restaurant with his girlfriend when he slipped on a muddy sidewalk yesterday evening.
As he reached out to grab a streetlight to steady himself he was electrified and fell to the ground.
Dramatic CCTV footage showed passers-by rushing over to rescue the unconscious man. They administered CPR but could not revive him.
Police believe an exposed wire touched the wet metal, extending the current. The tourist then touched the surface and was killed.
Police Major Thanom Thongpaen of the Thalang District Police Station said officers received a report at 9:30 pm.
Medics arrived and rushed the victim, who had dual American and Burmese nationality, to the Thalang Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
A friend of the victim’s girlfriend said the man had flown in from America around a week ago to visit his long-distance partner, whom he has not seen in six years.
The victim touched a streetlight to steady himself and was electrocuted yesterday night
Thailand still faces developmental challenges such as outdated infrastructure
Medics arrived and rushed the victim to hospital, where he was pronounced dead
She said: ‘I was eating dinner at the restaurant when they arrived. His girlfriend was walking ahead, and he slipped on the wet ground while following her.’
A local named Phiew said a customer informed him that someone had been electrocuted in front of the restaurant.
He said: ‘I saw that the man had fallen, but his leg was still touching the pole. I tried to touch him but I was zapped myself.
‘I managed to remove his leg from the streetlight before calling an ambulance.’
Officials from the Provincial Electricity Authority investigated the scene and found that the pole was carrying 220 volts of electricity.
The power supply was temporarily cut off to prevent further accidents.
They advised the residents to call the Highway District Office for repairs.
Thailand is a rapidly growing country but still faces developmental challenges such as outdated infrastructure, chronic flooding, traffic congestion, and air pollution.
Widespread corruption is also an issue hampering progress – with funds being siphoned to wealthy families or local officials instead of being spent on public services.
Researchers from Transparency International found in 2023 that 88 per cent of residents believe government corruption is a big problem in the country.
Earlier this year, a US-based travel influencer was left ‘fighting for her life’ after getting electrocuted by power lines during a ‘freak accident’ in Thailand.
Cara Hodgson, 33, a social media star and orthodontist from Los Angeles, California, was ‘rushed to the ER’ and forced to spend 10 days ‘in and out of hospitals’ after she endured a horrific mishap while visiting the Asian country.
Taking to her social media account on New Year’s day to reflect on the accident, she wrote, ‘In the blink of an eye it could all be taken away. Lucky to be here, 2024.
Cara shared a carousel of images, including one that featured her lying in a hospital bed and another that showed the IV in her arm.
Another shot was of a note she had written to herself on a piece of paper while in the hospital, which read, ‘Today is the first day I could eat and sit up in bed.
Last February, a schoolgirl was fatally electrocuted by her phone charger after she touched a frayed extension cable at her home in Thailand.
Rattanawadee Poontawee, 12, was found dead at her house in Nakhon Nayok province, Thailand, on February 13 after grabbing the phone charger which was still plugged into the extension socket.
Her grandmother, Chaweewan Poontawee, 58, was in another room when she heard a loud bang ‘like someone falling down’.
The grandmother found her granddaughter lay on the floor twitching after touching an exposed portion of the electricity cable’s wire, which was attached to her phone.
She called the emergency services but the girl had died before she could be rushed to a hospital.
A local said a customer informed him that someone had been electrocuted in front of the restaurant
Police believe an exposed wire touched the wet metal, extending the current
In 2019, a woman miraculously survived being hit by a 22,000 volt power line after it collapsed while she was crossing the road in Thailand.
Malinee Weerasuchart, 38, was standing on the pavement when the overhead cable fell and touched her legs causing a bright flash of sparks.
Video showed the wire hitting Mrs Weerasuchart’s shoulder before the exposed end fell on her right leg.
A nearby motorcycle taxi rider dragged her away from the wire to safety on the pavement.
Mrs Weerasuchart required at least two months of rehabilitation and her family said they had spent 974,315 baht (£25,096) on medical bills.
They claimed that the Thai government’s Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA), which is responsible for the cable, has not paid them any compensation.
