Child Touched Live Radio Wire

Northern Advocate, 9 January 1948, Page 5

Child Touched Live Radio Wire

AUCKLAND, Fri. (Sp.)—Artificial respiration was tried unsuccessfully for two and a half hours to revive an eight-year-old boy who received an electric shock at his home at Papatoetse yesterday. The victim was: David Charles Sinclair, aged eight, son of Mr and Mrs C. F. Sinclair, of Grand Vue Road, Papatoetoe. The boy was playing near the house with several other children when he touched the earth wire against the wall of the house and collapsed. The distribution engineer of the State Hydro-Electric Department (Mr O. E. Chamberlain) was called by the Otahuhu police to examine the wireless set. He said later that a three-core flex from the set had been fitted to a twopin plug and the earth wire in the flex had been cut but left exposed. It had come in contact with a phase wire and as a result the chassis of the set had become electrified. In addition, the earth wire which van from the back of the set was loosely connected tc the pipe in the i ground and this had formed a high resistance path to earth, thus allowing a dangerous potention to build up on the earth wire. Had this not been caused, the fuse would have been blown when the chassis of the set became electrified.