Electronics and water don’t go well together and it was once again proved when a man lost his life after he got electrocuted in the bath.
The tragic incident took place with Richard Bull (32) on December 11 when he was in the bath tub; his phone was kept next to the bath tub and was getting charged. Accidentally, the phone fell into water and the man got electrocuted.
Richard’s wife Tanya found him in the bath tub with such severe burns which made her think that her husband had been attacked.
Police came after Tanya called them and they found that an extension wire was being taken to bathroom from hallway for charging the phone. Richard was to meet his family members for exchanging the Christmas presents when he met with this accident.
Coroner Dr Sean Cummings, who carried out the investigation, said,
“This was a tragic accident and I have no reason to believe at all that there was anything other than it being completely accidental. These seem like innocuous devices, but they can be as dangerous as a hairdryer in a bathroom. They should attach warnings. I intend to write a report later to the makers of the phone.”
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Carole, the grieved mother of the deceased, said,
“I have worried that so many people and especially teenagers, that can’t be separated from their phones, don’t know how dangerous it is.”
Richard’s brother Andrew has this to say,
“When you are younger you are taught about electricity and the bath, but you don’t think about this. I still find it hard to believe that between the charger plug and the phone would be enough electricity to kill someone.”
Richard has captained the Old Actonians RFC rugby team as well as played for Ealing Exiles.
The detailed description of how the extension wire was used was given by PC Craig Pattison to the inquest at the West London Coroner’s Court. He said,
“We found an iPhone plugged into the extension cable and then the charger element in the bath.”
So from now on, please be careful and don’t make the mistake that Richard made.
