Woman mysteriously dies after touching back of food truck with mild power leakage

[webfact]

Woman mysteriously dies after touching back of food truck with mild power leakage  

By The Nation

 

Picture: Thai Rath

 

Authorities are investigating the cause of death of a woman who was allegedly electrocuted by a mild electric leakage from a noodle food truck in Nonthaburi’s Bang Yai district on Tuesday night.

 

The Bang Yai police station was alerted at 9pm that a woman had apparently been electrocuted in front of Soi Bang Lane 23/4 in Tambon Bang Lane.

 

The victim was identified as Nipada Polarsa, 24, a local resident. When police, rescuers of the Ruam Katanyu Foundation and a doctor arrived at the scene, they found her husband in tears hugging her lifeless body. 

 

The husband, Kittidej Thongprasert, told police that the couple had gone to buy noodles from the food truck which was parked in front of a convenience store and getting power from a wall socket in front of the store.

 

Kittidej said his wife walked back to the truck to ask for a slice of lime but stumbled over an iron bar used for chaining bicycles and fell towards the food truck. She was electrocuted when her left hand touched the back of the truck.

 

Kittidej ran to help up his wife and he too experienced an electric shock. He shouted to the noodle truck owner who immediately pulled out the plug in front of the convenience store.

 

Songpol Ratanapithaik, 38, the owner of the food truck, said he had used a power gauge before starting to sell to ensure his wife’s safety as she cooked the noodles but his check did not reveal any leakage. 

 

Officials from the Bang Yai office of the Metropolitan Electricity Authority checked and found that the leakage was just 36 volts and should not have killed anyone.

 

The doctor who inspected the scene with police said the tiny burn on the victim’s left wrist was not consistent with electrical burns on other victims of electrocution.

 

The body was sent for an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

 

Source: http://www.nationthailand.com/news/30372191

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand  2019-07-03

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[sammieuk1]

She mysteriously completed a bigger circuit than 36v in safety land where little is known about cpr????RIP

[worgeordie]

17 minutes ago, webfact said:

Songpol Ratanapithaik, 38, the owner of the food truck, said he had used a power gauge before starting to sell to ensure his wife’s safety as she cooked the noodles but his check did not reveal any leakage. 

I think they do that everytime they plug the electric in,if he really did that

i suspect he knew there could be problems with the electric  supply,

RIP young lady, 

regards Worgeordie

[keith101]

Just maybe she had an undiagnosed heart problem and the 36 volt shock was enough to stop her heart ?

[anterian]

The truck was presumably sitting on rubber tyres, also the Officials from the Bang Yai office clearly were not engineers.

[ianezy0]

What a tragedy.

This won’t be the only sleeping giant.

[bluesofa]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Songpol Ratanapithaik, 38, the owner of the food truck, said he had used a power gauge before starting to sell to ensure his wife’s safety as she cooked the noodles but his check did not reveal any leakage. 

 

Officials from the Bang Yai office of the Metropolitan Electricity Authority checked and found that the leakage was just 36 volts and should not have killed anyone.

I wonder what a 'power gauge' is when it's at home?

 

It's not the voltage that is important, but the amount of current flowing through the body which can cause heart failure.

There's a saying that all in the industry must know: "It's volts that jolts, it's mils that kills", meaning that a small current of 30mA (milli-amps) is enough to stop the heart, almost irrespective of the voltage. The MEA saying it was 'just 36 volts' is almost misleading.

[Uptooyoo]

If the truck had been properly grounded, the voltage would have been closer to ground potential, or 0 volts. The value of the voltage in combination with a person's electrical resistance determines the amount of current current flowing through the body. 100 milliamps is considered lethal. The resistance of the human body can vary greatly depending on environmental conditions. Were her hands wet? Was she wearing shorts exposing the skin on her leg to complete the circuit from her hand? Were the surfaces of the truck painted or bare metal? Was there a metal burr or sharp edge that pierced her skin dramatically reducing body resistance? Also the current's travel path through the body matters, across the heart is worst. In other words, a person's bodily resistance could become low enough, in combination with a worst-case travel path, that 36 volts could be lethal.  

Edited July 3, 2019 by Uptooyoo

[Emdog]

If this was mild, I'd hate to think what they consider major

[Youlike]

On the open markets i see plenty of extension cords/connectors and they even lay in the puddles where people shop.

 

I'm amazed that not many more people get electrocuted in Thailand.

[RJRS1301]

7 minutes ago, Youlike said:

On the open markets i see plenty of extension cords/connectors and they even lay in the puddles where people shop.

 

I'm amazed that not many more people get electrocuted in Thailand.

Me too, one of the reasons I wear mainly rubber soled shoes, especially when going to markets.

So many OHS hazards it is mind boggling, cords across footpaths roads, bare wires, trip hazards,  

Wonder what the stats for electrocution look like

 

RIP young woman 

[RJRS1301]

I guess no public liability insurance either

[evadgib]

Many years ago my eldest came within a whisker of becoming an earthing spike at a temple fair when a loose cable (lighting?) swung and fizzed millimeters above his head...

(It actually touched him but not enough to give him a good ZAP!)

 

RIP to this poor victim and condolences to her family.

Edited July 3, 2019 by evadgib

[johng]

Pattaya street market/festival.

 

 

Local School

 

Shopping Mall

[Moonlover]

I notice that no one has mentioned the root course of this tragic accident.

 

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Kittidej said his wife walked back to the truck to ask for a slice of lime but stumbled over an iron bar used for chaining bicycles and fell towards the food truck.

The sidewalks here are death traps in their own right, without electrically charged food trucks to help you on your way.

Edited July 3, 2019 by Moonlover

[DrTuner]

Mild is when you die, moderate when you get charred black, heavy when you are instantly vaporized. SNAFU is just getting zapped by anything metallic you touch. Welcome to Thailaaaannn!!

[plfomylo]

Another similar Thai death as the earplugs death !

 

 

[connda]

deleted

Edited July 3, 2019 by connda

[kritsana77]

2 hours ago, RJRS1301 said:

Me too, one of the reasons I wear mainly rubber soled shoes, especially when going to markets.

So many OHS hazards it is mind boggling, cords across footpaths roads, bare wires, trip hazards,  

Wonder what the stats for electrocution look like

 

RIP young woman 

I believe the most common reason for deaths of children in Thailand are drowning and electrocution.

[cardinalblue]

Shocking or expected?

[Almer]

The answer is the iron bar and the hand that picked up the bad earth, do i hear people asking whats an earth, bad state of affairs in 2019

[rwill]

I wonder if they checked the current flow from the cart, when plugged in, to the iron bar?

[hotchilli]

19 hours ago, anterian said:

The truck was presumably sitting on rubber tyres, also the Officials from the Bang Yai office clearly were not engineers.

The truck was sitting on rubber tyres which would insulate it from the ground, but the metal framed truck was obviously live, enough of a shock to burn her wrist and stop her heart!