Misadventure verdict on lift service technician

A CORONER yesterday recorded a verdict of death by misadventure on a technician who was electrocuted in a lift.

Coroner Rodney Venning was satisfied on a balance of probability that Chung Yu-kwok, 35, died from an electric shock on July 27, last year, three weeks after he joined Goldstar Industrial Systems (Hong Kong).

Although forensic pathologist Dr Lai Sai-chak had concluded that Chung died of electrocution, Ambrose Ho, counsel for Chung's employer, had called for alternative views from medical experts.

Dr Lai had earlier noted that the autopsy revealed no marks characteristic of contact with electricity. He also found that Chung's coronary artery was 40 per cent blocked.

With the absence of burn marks on Chung's body, Dr Paul Dickens, senior lecturer of the University of Hong Kong's Department of Pathology, found it more probable that death was caused by heart disease.

During the two-day inquest, the court heard that Chung and fellow technician Lai Chun-ming were assigned to service two lifts at Hoi Sing Mansion in Second Street.