STILL wet after a swim, a 7-year-old boy was electrocuted after unplugging his Game Boy charger in a hotel room in Thailand.
Connor Dean O'Keefe was found dead on the floor of the room in the Sunset Beach Resort at Patong Beach, Phuket, by his mother.
They had been on a family holiday from the UK, reported the British papers.
Thai police said Connor's death on 30 Dec last year was a tragic accident and the hotel was not to blame.
Connor's mother, Ms Kathleen Curry, 45, said her 'beautiful boy' had been eating lunch and was relaxing on a sunbed before re-entering the apartment.
HE WAS STILL HUNGRY
She recalled: 'Connor had just eaten but was still hungry, so we ordered some more food.
'When it arrived, I was near the swimming pool but he was nowhere to be seen. So I went into our apartment to look for him, but he was lying dead on the floor.'
Ms Curry, who bought the charger from a store in Thailand when they arrived, denies that her son was still wet when he touched the charger.
She said: 'He was aware of the dangers of electricity and was not stupid - he would not mess around with plugs.
'My son was only unplugging his Game Boy - he does it all the time at home. There should be some kind of warning about the different electrical currents you get abroad.'
However, Mr Wiraporn Ungathakorn, the acting hotel manager, said: 'The boy had been swimming. We believe he had (plugged) in his Game Boy or pulled at the Game Boy charger while still wet.
'The water must have gone straight into the plug. The safety cut could not save him. He was found by his parents in the room and we sent him to hospital by ambulance.'
But the doctors could not save him, said Mr Wiraporn, adding that the hotel has paid for his medical fees.
Ms Curry and her partner, Mr David Skinner, 49, flew back home with Connor's body on Wednesday night for the funeral.
HIDDEN DANGERS
The electrical system in Thailand is considered dangerous by western standards.
Most electrical plugs are two-prong, missing the third 'earth' prong.
Five years ago, a Danish boy was killed at a Thai hotel when he came into contact with an exposed wire besides a lamp that was illuminating the swimming pool.
But even when there are three prongs, tourists have been warned not to assume that the sockets are wired properly. In the past 10 years, because of increased enforcement of safety standards, more three-pronged sockets have been fitted, but recent tests have shown that less than half are properly wired.
The authorities in Phuket fear that such incidents could affect tourism. Two years after the tsunami, the island has only just recovered its previous visitor numbers.
Source
UK boy, 7, electrocuted while unplugging Game Boy 
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