Initial inspection shows damaged wiring could have been the cause of the child's fatal electric shock A broken electrical conduit with exposed wires, and the lack of a circuit breaker to prevent electrical leakage, are at the centre of inquiries into the electrocution of a boy in Tai Po on Thursday night. A comprehensive inspection of electrical conduits and their circuitry in the city's 150 public housing estates would be conducted within the next two weeks to prevent similar accidents, said Deputy Director of Housing Lau Kai-hung yesterday. Chan Chun-kit, 12, was electrocuted and a 13-year-old, identified only as Li, was injured by an electrical shock as they tried to retrieve a football on the second-floor canopy of Tai Yee House, Tai Yuen Estate. A child who often plays football at the site of the accident yesterday said that his friends occasionally had to climb the wall to reach a fenced canopy area to retrieve their ball. Leung Sai-chi, a chief housing manager in the Housing Department, yesterday said he did not rule out the possibility that some person had pulled apart the steel conduit and the wires. A preliminary inspection by the housing, electrical and mechanical services departments and the Fire Services Department found that the conduit, which runs through the exterior wall of Tai Yee House, had been broken on its second-floor and sixth-floor sections, Mr Leung said. Ho Wing-ip, the Housing Department's senior building services engineer, said: 'The conduit had been installed on the wall correctly. But if an external force was strongly applied to it, the conduit could depart from its proper position on the junction box, and the wires could then either be torn apart or scratched, which would expose the copper wires inside.' The full inspection of the estate would take 48 hours, he said. Mr Leung admitted that although a miniature circuit breaker - which cuts power only in the event of an excessive current surge - was installed on the conduit, no residual current circuit breaker had been installed to cut power in the event of an electrical leak. When asked if the boy's life could have been saved if a residual current circuit breaker had been installed, Mr Leung said: 'Not every type of circuitry requires a residual current circuit breaker.' He said such breakers were more appropriate in places easily reached by the public. Mr Lau said the installation was inspected annually, and this year's inspection had been completed in June. In May, 12-year-old Primary Five student Cheuk Lei-lung was electrocuted after climbing a metal ladder in a light well to retrieve a ball in Nam Fung Sun Chuen, in Quarry Bay. The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department has failed to identify a source of electricity inside the well that might have caused the accident.