Partygoer electrocuted to death in Chiang Mai, Thailand

A young man was electrocuted to death in Chiang Mai province, northern Thailand, on Tuesday night. He leaned on an electric fence in a car park upon leaving a famous bar with his friends.

CCTV footage captured the incident. The 26 year old man is pictured leaving Tha Chang Pub in Chiang Mai’s Mueang district with a group of friends after the bar closed.

Then, the man is seen sitting down in the car park near a concrete pole supporting an electric fence. Then, he leaned back and got electrocuted. His friends tried to help but got electrocuted too so they called rescue services to the scene.

A friend of the deceased, 28 year old Pongsatorn Yoschaipakorn, said everything happened very quickly. He said the electric shock lasted for a few minutes. He and his other friends tried to help but couldn’t because they got shocked too every time they touched him.

Pongsatorn said he grabbed a plastic bag and pulled his friend by the legs away from the fence. However, his friend had already stopped breathing, he said.

The rescue workers arrived and performed CPR and the young man’s pulse returned. He was rushed to hospital where he later died.

Officers from Chang Phueak Police Station are investigating whether the 50 year old owner of the private car park, Peera Salkwiset, is in any way responsible for the young man’s death.

Car park owner Peera defended himself by pointing out that there is a clear sign warning partygoers not to lean on the electric fence. He said thousands of people pass through the car park every night and this has never happened before. He insisted that he did not intend to harm anyone by installing the fence.

Peera offered to pay for the deceased’s hospital bills, for his body to be sent from Chiang Mai back to his hometown in Sukhothai province, for his funeral expenses, and for anything else that would help to alleviate the suffering of the young man’s family.

Superintendent of Chang Phueak Police Station Pol. Cl. Kittiphong Petchamunee said officers were investigating whether the electric shock occurred due to negligence by the car park owner.

If Peera is found to have been negligent then he will be prosecuted according to the law, said Pol. Cl. Kittiphong.

If an electric fence causes death in Thailand, the Criminal Court examines each incident on a case-by-case basis. Sometimes, the use of electric fences to defend property is deemed a legitimate use of rights.

However, in some cases where electric fences have caused death, the court has found the defendant guilty of Section 290 of the Criminal Code…

“Whoever causes death to the other person by inflicting injury upon the body of such a person without intent to cause death, shall be punished with imprisonment of three to 15 years.”

In September, a suspected thief was electrocuted to death when he scaled the side of a hotel in Bangkok at 5am. The hotel said they installed electric wires around the building since a tourist was robbed.