A 3 year-old-boy narrowly escaped death on Bang Saray beach when he grabbed a steel chain railing that had electric current passing through it.

The incident happened on the evening of Aug 30, when Phonchita Sawangarom, 22 took her son Thitisat for a walk on Bang Saray beach stopping to pay homage at the Prince of Chumphon Shrine. The boy went off to play in the sand and later came up to a chain railing near the shrine and grabbed it, unaware that it was fully charged with electricity from a leaking cable. The electrocution caused his hand to freeze on the chain as he screamed at the top of his voice. On seeing the shocking incident right before his eyes, a passerby, not thinking of his own safety, grabbed the boy’s hand and pulled him off and away from the electrified railing. He too was electrocuted saving the boy. Fortunately, he was not seriously injured.

The boy suffered extreme shock and his hands were severely burnt. He was rushed to a nearby hospital.

On inspecting the scene of the incident our reporter noticed that one of the two steel poles on which the chain was fastened had an electric cable connected to the bottom. On close examination he saw that the cable’s protective insulation was damaged and the electric wire was bare and had come into contact with the steel pole on which the chain was fastened. This caused the whole fence area to be totally electrified. It had rained the day before, so that made the steel structure even more hazardous.

Peng Buahom acting on behalf of the mayor of Bang Saray said the municipality takes full responsibility for the incident and had assigned officials to care for the boy’s treatment and at the same time repair and replace the faulty cables at the public park to ensure that these accidents will not happen again in the future.