Man dies urinating near electricity pole, Thai police say

[webfact]

Man Dies Urinating Near Electricity Pole, Police Say
By Khaosod English


The badly burnt body of a security guard was found near a utility pole and partially submerged in a canal southwest of Bangkok this morning.

BANGKOK — Severe burns on the body of a man found dead in southwest metro Bangkok this morning have led police to conclude he was electrocuted to death as he urinated next to an electrical pole.

Sanngud Muenthamai, a 59-year-old security guard of a nearby construction firm, was found dead on a canal bank in Samut Sakhon province, half in the water, with extensive burns to the left side of his body and with his pants lowered. Part of the dead man’s left index finger was burned away.

Police Lt. Pitipat Yodkhum said police were called to the scene this morning.

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1443765461


-- Khaosod English 2015-10-02

[thesetat2013]

Amazing that Thais just don't understand water(piss) and electricity just don't mix. RIP

[peterjackson]

I was going to post a joke, but thought it in bad taste under the circumstances.

RIP

Liquid and Electricity are never a good combination.

Now i'll resume my visualization and chuckle to myself.

[Beng]

The wiring doesn't look good.

[burgdawg]

...even better, punk taggers (graffiti artists) were spray painting their "art"

on an electrical substation in USA---spray paint is an excellent conductor, the taggers were

reduced to burned out crisps.

Same principle.

Am all for it. It takes me 1-2 hours to even PURCHASE spray paint in USA with their

cumbersome and ridiculous laws.

[canopus1969]

All that space to chose from and he has to go and p*ss on the electrics

[ratcatcher]

The wiring doesn't look good.

In this lovely country, does it ever?

[trogers]

Man can pee anywhere, even on open ground.

I see only dogs prefer peeing on poles and wheels.

[Strangebrew]

Why was attention brought to left index finger? Had a dog once pee on an electric outlet Saw an arc from outlet to pecker dog never peed inside again but that only 110 versus 220 here. But judging by photo pole is cement not a conductor unless this guy had 20 inches or was peeing from top of a ladder no way he could of had this happen, so must have leaning on pole to steady himself either or not a good idea.

Edited October 2, 2015 by Strangebrew

[EnglishJohn]

Man can pee anywhere, even on open ground.

I see only dogs prefer peeing on poles and wheels.

It's a quirk of the human male that he likes to pee up against something rather than onto open ground.

I would have done the same if I knew nothing about nothing - poor guy. He should know better than to pee onto the electric box.

[khwaibah]

Whole new meaning to the phrase "piss on it and "piss off". RIP

[halloween]

Amazing that Thais just don't understand water(piss) and electricity just don't mix. RIP

To be accurate, relatively pure water such as rain is a very poor conductor. I have connected a tester on a fibreglass rod onto a live 500,000V line in pouring rain (a constant stream down the rod and falling from my elbows) without even a tingle. OTOH many failures occur when a long dry/dusty spell is followed by fog/mist/very light rain.

A nurse g/f told me about a retarded patient who used to piss on power outlets intentionally. The difference being that the protection would operate before he was seriously injured/killed.

[gchurch259]

Have you ever peed without you index finger on your hardware ?

Why was attention brought to left index finger? Had a dog once pee on an electric outlet Saw an arc from outlet to pecker dog never peed inside again but that only 110 versus 220 here. But judging by photo pole is cement not a conductor unless this guy had 20 inches or was peeing from top of a ladder no way he could of had this happen, so must have leaning on pole to steady himself either or not a good idea.

[Assurancetourix]

Why was attention brought to left index finger? Had a dog once pee on an electric outlet Saw an arc from outlet to pecker dog never peed inside again but that only 110 versus 220 here. But judging by photo pole is cement not a conductor unless this guy had 20 inches or was peeing from top of a ladder no way he could of had this happen, so must have leaning on pole to steady himself either or not a good idea.

110 volts is more dangerous than 220 volts ;

it's because of that it was abolished about 50 years ago in France

[AlQaholic]

What?! you can't piss on electricity poles? why?

[Guitar God]

Nobody's asked "Where's the Like button" yet?

[Pimay1]

Why was attention brought to left index finger? Had a dog once pee on an electric outlet Saw an arc from outlet to pecker dog never peed inside again but that only 110 versus 220 here. But judging by photo pole is cement not a conductor unless this guy had 20 inches or was peeing from top of a ladder no way he could of had this happen, so must have leaning on pole to steady himself either or not a good idea.

110 volts is more dangerous than 220 volts ;

it's because of that it was abolished about 50 years ago in France

It is not the amount of voltage that results in a fatality but the amount of current. Currents between 100 and 200ma are lethal.

[freedom4life]

He was doing something he should not of been doing...

[chingching]

Why was attention brought to left index finger? Had a dog once pee on an electric outlet Saw an arc from outlet to pecker dog never peed inside again but that only 110 versus 220 here. But judging by photo pole is cement not a conductor unless this guy had 20 inches or was peeing from top of a ladder no way he could of had this happen, so must have leaning on pole to steady himself either or not a good idea.

110 volts is more dangerous than 220 volts ;

it's because of that it was abolished about 50 years ago in France

It is not the amount of voltage that results in a fatality but the amount of current. Currents between 100 and 200ma are lethal.

Volts jolt, mils kills.

[bangkokheat]

everything looks damp, must have had recent rain

[bangkokheat]

i wonder if the police will do a re-enactment

[Mudcrab]

Amazing that Thais just don't understand water(piss) and electricity just don't mix. RIP

To be accurate, relatively pure water such as rain is a very poor conductor. I have connected a tester on a fibreglass rod onto a live 500,000V line in pouring rain (a constant stream down the rod and falling from my elbows) without even a tingle. OTOH many failures occur when a long dry/dusty spell is followed by fog/mist/very light rain.

A nurse g/f told me about a retarded patient who used to piss on power outlets intentionally. The difference being that the protection would operate before he was seriously injured/killed.

A mortician friend told me about a retard who:

connected a tester on a fibreglass rod onto a live 500,000V line in pouring rain (a constant stream down the rod and falling from my elbows).

Where was this 500kV line?

[soalbundy]

He was on line and got a connection

[rayw]

Why was attention brought to left index finger? Had a dog once pee on an electric outlet Saw an arc from outlet to pecker dog never peed inside again but that only 110 versus 220 here. But judging by photo pole is cement not a conductor unless this guy had 20 inches or was peeing from top of a ladder no way he could of had this happen, so must have leaning on pole to steady himself either or not a good idea.

110 volts is more dangerous than 220 volts ;

it's because of that it was abolished about 50 years ago in France

It is not the amount of voltage that results in a fatality but the amount of current. Currents between 100 and 200ma are lethal.

But voltage is PRESSURE and the more pressure the more the current that will be able to flow through a given item (in this case urine and the human body). So for dangers of lethal electric shock actually 110V is quite a lot safer. Why we use higher voltage in most of the civilised world is that it is far more efficient to transport through wires as less current is needed for a given wattage of power output. And current causes heat and loss of power in the wire conductors so to eliminate that you need thicker wires for the same power requirement. All simple Ohms law.

Take say 1000 Watt load like a small kettle or an iron say. At 110V that would require a current of 1000/110= about 9 Amps, whereas the same 1000 watt load at 220V would require 1000/220 = about 4.5 Amps of current thus requiring much lighter thinner cable to feed it. So with 110V there is much more risk of cable heated fires than with 220V and thus the need for heavier gauge wiring, but the risk of death by electrocution is far less.

It is why we see voltages like 132,000 V or more on grid power transmission lines often high up on pylons, as a lot of power can be transported with little current needed at these high voltage pressures, so thus the cables can be relatively small gauge for such a massive electrical transmission need. But that high voltage is massive pressure and thus very dangerous and why pylons are so high and usually protected from idiots getting killed. What they want to avoid is lost power in high currents heating the transmission cabling thus higher voltage is used to be more efficient for grid transmission of power. ​

I think what some folk confuse with is that it was the original early DC electrical supply was what was so dangerous and was changed to AC which is easier to generate too of course. With DC it seizes the human muscles meaning you cannot let go of the source of the shock, whereas with AC you are thrown off as the voltage falls and is reversed and the muscles react by immediately reflexing of course.

220V overall is considered the best these days and why 90% of the world use it. There are not many places outside of North America that use 110V nowadays, but it is wrong to say that 220V is safer as it truly is not but it is far more practical as long as safety measures are utilised.

Edited October 2, 2015 by rayw

[nudgerman]

We all need protecting from ourselves at times ....... If this country started applying proper safety standards incidents like this would become rare.

Yes it could be said he should have been more aware.

Very sad R.I.P Sir.

[SPB65]

Quite literally shocking news.

[soalbundy]

couldn't have happened with my prostate, i piss on my boots on a good day

[Pimay1]

Why was attention brought to left index finger? Had a dog once pee on an electric outlet Saw an arc from outlet to pecker dog never peed inside again but that only 110 versus 220 here. But judging by photo pole is cement not a conductor unless this guy had 20 inches or was peeing from top of a ladder no way he could of had this happen, so must have leaning on pole to steady himself either or not a good idea.

110 volts is more dangerous than 220 volts ;

it's because of that it was abolished about 50 years ago in France

It is not the amount of voltage that results in a fatality but the amount of current. Currents between 100 and 200ma are lethal.

But voltage is PRESSURE and the more pressure the more the current that will be able to flow through a given item (in this case urine and the human body). So for dangers of lethal electric shock actually 110V is quite a lot safer. Why we use higher voltage in most of the civilised world is that it is far more efficient to transport through wires as less current is needed for a given wattage of power output. And current causes heat and loss of power in the wire conductors so to eliminate that you need thicker wires for the same power requirement. All simple Ohms law.

Take say 1000 Watt load like a small kettle or an iron say. At 110V that would require a current of 1000/110= about 9 Amps, whereas the same 1000 watt load at 220V would require 1000/220 = about 4.5 Amps of current thus requiring much lighter thinner cable to feed it. So with 110V there is much more risk of cable heated fires than with 220V and thus the need for heavier gauge wiring, but the risk of death by electrocution is far less.

It is why we see voltages like 132,000 V or more on grid power transmission lines often high up on pylons, as a lot of power can be transported with little current needed at these high voltage pressures, so thus the cables can be relatively small gauge for such a massive electrical transmission need. But that high voltage is massive pressure and thus very dangerous and why pylons are so high and usually protected from idiots getting killed. What they want to avoid is lost power in high currents heating the transmission cabling thus higher voltage is used to be more efficient for grid transmission of power. ​

I think what some folk confuse with is that it was the original early DC electrical supply was what was so dangerous and was changed to AC which is easier to generate too of course. With DC it seizes the human muscles meaning you cannot let go of the source of the shock, whereas with AC you are thrown off as the voltage falls and is reversed and the muscles react by immediately reflexing of course.

220V overall is considered the best these days and why 90% of the world use it. There are not many places outside of North America that use 110V nowadays, but it is wrong to say that 220V is safer as it truly is not but it is far more practical as long as safety measures are utilised.

Excellent description.

[MockingJay]

It's just a miracle that incidents like this one are not occuring every few seconds here in LOS...

Edited October 2, 2015 by MockingJay

[waldroj]

I've previously made comment about power poles in Thailand, if they're not falling over, they're causing other drama!

One only hopes the dead man's family can secure a smart lawyer to attack the recalcitrant electricity company.

Even Thai's have to learn to take responsibility for their actions (or lack thereof), and how those actions may impact the lives of others.

Nothing more than a basic duty of care.

Not that I make a habit of photographing power poles, but I really think people here deserve better than what they currently receive from government and large companies.