The tragic case of a 12-year-old boy who was electrocuted in an air vent was death by accident, a coroner ruled yesterday.
Coroner Peter White accepted the findings by the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department on the cause of the accident in which primary school student Cheuk Lee-lung died at Nam Fung Sun Chuen in Quarry Bay on May 26.
Lee-lung was playing football with two friends on a playground on the roof of a car park when the ball was kicked onto the roof of a structure housing a light well and ventilation shaft.
They went to the bottom floor of the car park, where they found the entrance to the light well unlocked. Lee-lung climbed a metal ladder in the light well that ran parallel to the ventilation shaft.
While climbing, he touched a metal bar with cords connected to the ventilation fans and was electrocuted.
Mr White also accepted the department's recommendations that owners and management companies lock rooms or shafts holding dangerous electrical equipment.
'Unauthorised entry of [such] should be prevented by the provision of a lock or warning notices,' he said.