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Comment by: borhan9 (Jan 05, 2007 15:16)

It's just a known fact that electricity and water don't mix. This just re-confirms my view on electronic stuff that you purchase overseas is not a good choice. Although it can be cheaper it has it's downside.

Comment by: vegeta66 (Jan 05, 2007 15:54)

this is a classic sign of poor parenting, by the age of 4 anyone should be well aware of house hold dangers. i was, and i never did anything such as stick metal objects in outlets, this kinda stuff is common sense. parents need to be more like parents and stop being their kids friends.

Comment by: Dela (Jan 05, 2007 16:08)

Kids aren't adults and adults aren't CCTV cameras, u don't follow your kid around everywhere they go. If they are at home, in the house, u don't keep one eye on them and one eye on the TV all day, u check in on them regularly, but like I said, you're not a damn CCTV camera. If you're kids are outside, you keep more of a watch over them.

People are quick to comment with stuff like "who lets their child play around with sockets...?" - who said they let their kid play around with anything electrical? When their backs were turned this kid might have just decided he wanted to plug in/out his gaming device, maybe if the parent was right there at that very moment, they would have done it for him.

They were on holiday in a "new" environment and this kid was obviously in the hotel room, which is where the parents probably felt most comfortable with him being. So they propbably had backs turned for a second and that's it.... their kids is gone forever, they were in the closest thing they had to their home there and still even in that environment a tragic accident occured.

Simply put, it was an accident, even the police put no blame on anybody over the incident, something bad just happened. This is not like a parent who let their kids listen to eminem and then complain that their kids swear (which is their own fault then) this was just an accident. People are very quick to throw blame on anyone they can, I honestly do not believe you can say this is their fault.

Comment by: Davedough (Jan 05, 2007 16:10)

As a parent of a 4 year old, I actually take a bit of offense at that statement. I challenge you to recall anything in specific of when you were 4 years old and tell me exactly where your mindstate was at enough to make such a bold claim.

Poor parenting? Kids will be kids, and the advent of video games and other such distractions have changed the rules for parents all together. A friend of mine has a 4 year old boy who would wet himself because he was too engrossed in a video game to put it down and go to the bathroom. Think of the same possible scenario here. The kid had just got done with a swim in a tropic region. The whole time, he was thinking that his Pokemon would fight better if he did "this". (Forgive the vagueness as I dont know much about gameboy games) He goes in side, and figures he'll just plug it in and go, not realising that he still has beads of water coming down his arm. Even after the walk from the pool to the hotel room in which ambient air gave him plenty of time to dry. This was an accident and accidents happen.

You're trying to tell me that at 4 years old, your brain could process that entire scenario and know what you should and should not do? Dont blame the parents, there is no blame here. Its an accident that stripped a precious life away from a set of parents, have sympathy.

Comment by: SPIKE2004 (Jan 05, 2007 20:18)

WOW! This death really has SPARKED alot of interest.

Though I will say by that age I like anubis66 knew what would and wouldnt kill me.

Water and Electricity just dont mix, but sure as anything Nintendo will be to blame, as they probably forgot to mention in the manual dont play while wet!!!

Comment by: narcismo (Jan 06, 2007 01:30)

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ahahah how odd.

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Pop Smith, i dont think anubis was laughing. more like Ah Ha. at any rate, it just a tragedy that could have happend to anyone(even if his parents were sitting there , reading him the latest excerpt from "don't do this weekly")unfortunatly it happens every day. just be glad it was'nt your child.

Comment by: pepsimaxx (Jan 06, 2007 01:36)

jeez, that was pretty harsh Anubis.. i dont like kids.. but still.. lol. not really all that pleaseant.

Comment by: narcismo (Jan 06, 2007 01:40)

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Poor parenting? Kids will be kids

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very true...and equally true...just being a kid may get you killed. but as a parent what the hell can you do? should we all start locking our children in cages like pets? i'm sure the lawers who will be rep. this case will have you believe so. hold onto your socks NINTENDO!

Comment by: tabletpc (Jan 06, 2007 02:38)

are you kiding me this is funny as heck

how stupid do you have to be to play with electricty while wet man talk about stupid kid most kids have the common intelegence to not play with water near a electric outlet

Comment by: anubis66 (Jan 06, 2007 04:34)

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You're trying to tell me that at 4 years old, your brain could process that entire scenario and know what you should and should not do?

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this kid was 7, so yes.

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Pop Smith, i dont think anubis was laughing. more like Ah Ha.

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yeah, its just funny how something like this happens, and let alone gets reported on here. its interesting thats for sure.

But they all do sort of the same thing, and that is rearrange what you thought was real, and they remind you of the beauty of very simple things. You forget, because you're so busy going from a to z, that there's 24 letters in between... You turn on... tune in... and you drop out...



PS3 Username: Anubis66

Comment by: Dela (Jan 06, 2007 06:10)

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are you kiding me this is funny as heck

how stupid do you have to be to play with electricty while wet man talk about stupid kid most kids have the common intelegence to not play with water near a electric outlet

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You can't even spell electricity or intelligence and you think it's funny that a 7 year old didn't realize what he was doing might actually kill him. Judging by those spelling mistakes and your general attitude I wouldn't peg you as an expert on the subject of the mentality of little children, or as an adult or a parent (I HOPE not, because you would not laugh if this happened to you).

Comment by: janrocks (Jan 06, 2007 08:05)

If he was older I'd nominate this for the Darwin award. As it stands it's a tragic accident that could so easily have been avoided.
The hotel are to blame in the final case.. All outlets should be fitted with RCD breakers for just this reason.

Darwin winners 2006. People who have done us all a favour by removing themselves from the gene pool. (nothing to do with the story)


MICHIGAN...
In Detroit, a 41-year-old man got stuck and drowned in two feet of water after squeezing head first through an 18-inch-wide sewer grate to retrieve his car keys.


CALIFORNIA...
A 49-year-old San Francisco stockbroker, who "totally zoned when he ran," -- accidentally jogged off a 100-foot-high cliff on his daily run.


NORTH CAROLINA...
Buxton, NC: A man died on a beach when an 8-foot-deep hole he had dug into the sand caved in as he sat inside it. Beach-goers said Daniel Jones, 21, dug the hole for fun, or protection from the wind, and had been sitting in a beach chair at the bottom Thursday afternoon when it collapsed, burying him beneath 5 feet of sand.

People on the beach on the outer banks, used their hands and shovels, trying to claw their way to Jones, a resident of Woodbridge, VA, but could not reach him. It took rescue workers using heavy equipment almost an hour to free him while about 200 people looked on. Jones was pronounced dead at a hospital.


CALIFORNIA...
Santiago Alvarado, 24, was killed in Lompoc, CA, as he fell face-first through the ceiling of a bicycle shop he was burglarizing. Death was caused when the long flashlight he had placed in his mouth(to keep his hands free) rammed into the base of his skull as he hit the floor.


DELAWARE...
Sylvester Briddell, Jr., 26, was killed in Selbyvill, Del, as he won a bet with friends who said he would not put a revolver loaded with four bullets into his mouth and pull the trigger.


HONOURABLE MENTION:

NEW JERSEY...
Paul Stiller, 47, was hospitalized in Andover township, NJ, and his wife Bonnie was also injured, when a quarter-stick of dynamite blew up in their car. While driving around 2 AM, the bored couple lit the dynamite and tried to toss it out the window to see what would happen, but apparently failed to notice the window was closed.

RUNNER UP:

WASHINGTON...
TACOMA, WA.........Kerry Bingham had been drinking with several friends when one of them said they knew a person who had bungee-jumped from the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in the middle of traffic. The conversation grew more heated and at least 10 men trooped along the walkway of the bridge at 4:30 AM.

Upon arrival at the midpoint of the bridge they discovered that no one had brought a bungee rope. Bingham, who had continued drinking, volunteered and pointed out that a coil of lineman's cable lay nearby. One end of the cable was secured around Bingham's leg and the other end was tied to the bridge. His fall lasted 40 feet before the cable tightened and tore his foot off at the ankle. He miraculously survived his fall into the icy river water and was rescued by two nearby fishermen. "All I can say" said Bingham, "is that God was watching out for me on that night. There's just no other explanation for it."

Bingham's foot was never located.

AND THE WINNER: FROM G-E-R-M-A-N-Y is....
Overzealous zookeeper Friedrich Riesfeldt (Paderborn, Germany) fed his constipated elephant Stefan 22 doses of animal laxative and more than a bushel of berries, figs and prunes before the plugged-up pachyderm finally let it fly, and suffocated the keeper under 200 pounds of poop!

Investigators say ill-fated Friedrich, 46, was attempting to give the ailing elephant an olive oil enema when the relieved beast unloaded on him. "The sheer force of the elephant's unexpected defecation knocked Mr. Riesfeldt to the ground, where he struck his head on a rock and lay unconscious as the elephant continued to evacuate his bowels on top of him" said flabbergasted Paderborn police detective Erik Dern. "With no one there to help him, he lay under all that dung for at least an hour before a watchman came along, and during that time he suffocated."

Comment by: sammorris (Jan 06, 2007 09:35)

The darwin awards are humourous (although they probably shouldn't be) because people are mindlessly stupid when they know better. The difference here is that a 7 year old child probably won't know better. I think it's outrageous that people can claim that since they were barely able to speak they knew all about electrical safety and always considered it whenever they went near a plug socket.

Comment by: Dela (Jan 06, 2007 10:14)

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The darwin awards are humourous (although they probably shouldn't be) because people are mindlessly stupid when they know better. The difference here is that a 7 year old child probably won't know better. I think it's outrageous that people can claim that since they were barely able to speak they knew all about electrical safety and always considered it whenever they went near a plug socket.

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100% agreed...

Comment by: BobbyBlu (Jan 07, 2007 00:23)

Thats real sad but not a laughable matter.It could happen to anyone child.

Comment by: Dragan123 (Jan 07, 2007 01:32)

It is definitely a shame that the boy died, granted he should have been taught about the dangers of water and electricity. But that is not what I am shocked about, the heading in the UK papers said "Killed by Game Boy," but that is clearly not what happened according to the police report of the incident. The power outlet's reaction to the water on the boy is what killed him, not the Game Boy.

It is things like this that people like, Jack Thompson that vehemently claims that games are a danger to our youth, that gives the video games industry a bad name. The Game Boy was not the cause of this accident, the power surge from the power outlet is the culprit here.

Comment by: ianburley (Jan 07, 2007 08:13)

This was no accident, this was a preventable incident.

It would appear most likely that a metal surface associated with the socket outlet may have become live and when the boy made contact with it he received a fatal electric shock.

In the UK all such accessories should be connected to the earth terminal so that if a fault occurs and a live conductors comes in to contact with accessible metal parts a fuse or mcb will operate (British Standard 7671:2001 is a bible for electricians). Sadly, not all countries operate to such standards.

If the former is the case, then poor installation practice or maintenance would appear to be to blame.

Water and electricity do not mix well. water is a poor conductor of electricity but when spread over the skin extends the surface area of contact with electrical terminals making it much easier for electricity to enter the body. As little as 0.05 amps can cause a fatal shock. A typical 2200 watt kettle takes about 10 amps (in the UK).

The internet is jam packed full of idiots who expect young children to be aware of these risks. Rubbish - it is the responsibility of the hotel or building owner to ensure that equipment is in a safe condition. My condolences go to the family. I would like to say that in the Uk we don't have such incidents but we do. UK government figures show that a few tens of people die in their homes in similar circumstances each year. In the work place, about 10 people die each year from electric shock.

Comment by: groony (Jan 07, 2007 08:25)

This was a tragic ACCIDENT; however one the respondents said water electrocuted the child. Water is not a conductor of electricity. The truith is , he was electrocuted because of the salt in his body as neither is a conductor however they are together.

Comment by: tak_em_ez (Jan 07, 2007 10:14)

Ok let's think about this for a second. Alot of you have different ideas and all of them could be right in a way. I do agree with all of the ones that say it was just a tragic accident. But put yourself in the boys shoes for a minute, maybe the boy did know all about water and electricity and what it does when you put them both together. But at the age of 7, the only thing that was probably on his mind (at that moment in time) was playing a game that ment alot to him, which their is nothing in the world wrong with that. and just forgot about the other detail. (ever heard the old saying, one track mind) Most kids that age only think about one thing at a time until they get older.

And as far as the parents, I wouldn't put the blame on them because I wasn't their. Anything could have happened. For all we know the boys parent could have been in the pool with him, because who would let their 7 year old go to the hotel pool by themself, and when they got back in the room thought it was safe for them to step in the bathroom for a minute and dry off and change, and the boy could have just got the urge to play a game while he was waiting on the parent to come out. And once the game idea was in his head, that was probably all that was on his mind.

And the headline, I do agree with dragan123, they shouldn't have put game boy in it. They could have just left it as seven year old killed in tragic accident. But look who we are talking about (the media) they will do what ever it takes to get publiscity and that is all it is to them, they probally don't even care. Just something to boost the ratings. But it is a very sad and tragic accident, I don't know what i would do if i lost my child by something like this, beause it does have the appearance of being prevented. But who's to say wether it was or not if you wasn't their and you don't know exactly how it happened.

Comment by: Joshua30 (Jan 07, 2007 14:00)

I do feel sorry for that kid.

Comment by: Joshua30 (Jan 07, 2007 14:00)

I do feel sorry for that kid.

Comment by: millfield (Jan 07, 2007 14:57)

I,m really sorry about the loss of this child, and i do hurt for them as i have children myself. i,m also an electrician and from time to time get that "shock" myself. don,t blame the parents or the child, it happens, as in my case. life take the innocent and leaves the scum to rob again (where,s god when needed,nowhere !! )rest in peace lad.

Comment by: barcia99 (Jan 07, 2007 15:03)

this is tragic and peace be with the parents who are suffering through this. the thought that a 6 or 7 year old should know better is foolish, maybe some should read eriksons stages of life. this will give some a better insight on what children do at what ages.

Comment by: diableria (May 31, 2007 13:20)

right on

Comment by: cessium (Jul 20, 2007 15:04)

So far everyone is either blaming the parents or the kid for his electrocution. True, kids should be taught to keep wet hands away from electricity. However, there is a reason why accidents like these don't occur very often in the United States and that is because building codes required ground fault circuit interrupters. A GFCI kills the outlet within milliseconds of a current drop and prevents electrocution death.

Older homes in the US don't necessarily have GFCI and when I bought my home from 1945, the first thing I did was have an electrician install the devices in the kitchen and bathroom, as these are high-risk areas given their proximity to water.