Man electrocuted grabbing bag of cash from power lines in Thailand
Man dies trying to retrieve a bag with less than a tenth of the money he thought it contained
By Manit Sanubboon
A man was electrocuted while trying to recover a bag of money tied to a balloon snagged on high-voltage power lines on Wednesday afternoon.
The incident occurred beside Suwansorn Road near Phra Prong village in Kabin Buri district.
After rushing to the scene, Kabin Buri police found a man, identified as Ratthawut Phanompha, 20, lying unconscious near a 20-metre-high power pole opposite a local shrine. A 10-metre long bamboo stick with a sickle tied around one end, and a crane truck were found nearby.
Emergency service personnel performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the man, but to no avail. The man later died.
Kabin Buri district chief Wanlop Prawatwong said that three months earlier, local people held a merit-making rite at the shrine to pay respects to the relics of the dead, and released balloons into the sky as part of the rite. One balloon was attached to a bag said to contain 9,999 baht (US$294).