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