PHOTOS: Phuket Hot News
Forensic police, along with the experts from the Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority office, investigated the basketball field in Suan Luang Park following the tragic death of an 18 year old Thai-Egyptian student of Prince of Songkhla University, Kahled ‘Nikki’ Nour, on July 13. He was electrocuted after touching a lamp post next to the basketball court.
Nikki was laying down near the lamp post at the basketball field before he got electrocuted while his friend, Cherdsak ‘Enzo’ Vaiano, was also shocked but survived and is now recovering at Phuket International Hospital.
Chaiyot Panyawai, a former Phuket senator and a relative of Nikki, along with other relatives, witnessed the representatives of the PEA and the outsourced company, responsible for the lamp post, gathering evidence with the police at the park.
Officials noted there was a wire repair earlier and some wires remained exposed and merely covered with black tape. They explained that they will file a full report to the police.
Meanwhile, Chaiyot said the people involved must be very careful of the lamp posts, not only in the area of Phuket Municipality, but everywhere around Phuket. The local official of each area must check their public lamp posts often.
Also, he mentioned that witnesses at the scene told him that CPR didn’t work while they called the ambulance. It took about 30 minutes for the ambulance to arrive which was too late for Nikki. He called for an adjustment to emergency response by placing ambulances at different exercising spots, such as Suan Luang and Sapan Hin Park, to provide faster response for this kind of unexpected incident.
He said that there are a few things that he still doubts about the incident. There was an official telling him that there were some insects creating a hive inside the pole causing the leak, but what he saw was that the joint of the wire touched the post from the inside.
Also, he mentioned that the junction of the ground wire was obviously loose and the ground wire was “below standard”. He believes that the tragic incident was caused by negligence but there would be an investigation to see who is responsible.
After the incident, the Phuket Municipality provided support to the family for the funeral but the compensation hasn’t been discussed because the family and relatives have yet to hear about the official cause of death.
