A 3-Year-Old Boy Was Electrocuted By A Hari Raya Display In Publika
The light bulbs shattered when the boy was eventually pulled off of them after being electrocuted for about 8 to 10 seconds.
By Samantha Khor — 26 Jun 2015, 05:47 PM
A shopping trip turned into quite a scare for a couple when their 3-year-old son got electrocuted by a light bulb from a Hari Raya display in Publika Shopping Gallery on 21 June
The incident, which happened on 21 June, was outlined in a Facebook status posted yesterday (25 June) by Jinny Kim. The post has been shared more than 3,700 times at press time.
In the Facebook post, the boy's mother explained that her son had gotten curious about a cartoon figure on display before proceeding to touch some light bulbs next to the figure.
While the bulbs do not look like real ones as their lights are somewhat dim, she warned her son to let go of them.
Last Sunday 21th June, my family went to Publika Mall (Solaris Mont’kiara) for a cup of coffee after grocery shopping. We were walking along the ground level wide hallway (G2 in Publika) along the Ramadan decorations with some sort of light bulbs decoration adjacent to some sitting area.
My kid was attracted to the Ramadan cartoon image displayed next to the light bulbs and as the bulbs looked not real (muted light) he was curious, happened to touch them with his both hands. While my husband was approaching to him I raised a bit of my voice to let go of them.
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But something wasn't right. When the boy did not react to his mother's warnings, she realised that he was being electrocuted when his body started to tremble while his eyes darted in every direction.
With his bare hands, her husband managed to pull their son off of the light bulbs... but not without getting shocked himself.
However, my son looked very strange because he didn’t even turn his head or talk back to me. I suddenly realize he was in a shock of electric current because he started trembling his body and saw his pointless eyes. I shouted “electric electric!”
My husband swiftly reached with his bare hands and also got shocked indirectly from my son. After a moment of his ‘ouch!’ he immediately re-tried to pull my son out with quicker motion and in full force.
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A brief check revealed that the boy had suffered several burn blisters on his reddened hands. Most shockingly, the bulbs he was touching exploded into pieces the moment he was pulled away from them!
When my son finally was detached from it, the bulbs got broken and scattered on the floor as my son’s hands got stuck on the bulbs. I screamed as it was so horrifying scene and then my son started crying. We checked his body and what we could see were the burn marks on his both hands. I cried and felt so sorry to him that I had to let him be in an electrical shock about 8 - 10 secs.
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To make matters worse, the guards are of no help whatsoever. Not only were they indifferent to what had just happened, they refused to turn the lights off, saying that they were not authorised to do so.
I asked the guard around us to call the management officer or whoever in charge of this decoration. He didn’t answer and indifferently called some other guards.
Finally, a seem-to-be head of guard walked in and just said “don’t let your kid touch anything”.
My husband and I were so upset over their reactions and shouted at the guard, “My son is 3 year old and just got electrocuted. How can you say that instead of checking if he is OK. Please just turn the switch off it is not safe!” They say they are not authorized.
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Meanwhile, there were still some families with kids hanging around the area - some close to the light bulbs - after what had transpired. Frustrated at the guards' indifference, the boy's parents took it upon themselves to inform other patrons of the decorations' safety risks.
The worse thing was that after the incident happened, some families with kids were still resting at the other seating area with the same decorations and kids were still so closed to touch them. We asked the guards to turn off the power. They kept saying they are not authorized and were indifferent. So we ourselves asked people not to touch them.
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Despite having to wait for half an hour, their eventual meeting with the person-in-charge (PIC) came to a disappointing end when he told them to fill in a complaint form and bring their son to a clinic
About 30 mins later we could finally talk to allegedly the person in charge on the phone, he said just leave a complain form and go to clinic. We were so speechless and dumbfounded for their mall operation system with no safety standards and irresponsible manners.
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Fortunately, the boy did not suffer any major injuries from the electric shock. However, it was a restless night for the boy and his parents as they were completely horrified and traumatised from what had happened earlier that day.
Luckily other than the wounds on both palms my son didn’t show any signs symptoms yet. We could not sleep at all that night because we were so horrified and traumatized of what we have gone through. My kid also woke up a few times during that night.
We just realized that it was so fortunate and he could have been more seriously damaged if unlucky.
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The next day, after bringing their son to the hospital, a manager from Publika contacted them to arrange a meeting with the family. Although they'd initially agreed to it, they eventually decided not to as they lived quite far from Publika and were already exhausted from the trip to the hospital.
The following day we could see doctor and took a blood test and ECG test. After 3 hours of hospital in the morning the mall manager called around 12:30pm and suggested a meeting with my son at their office in Mont’kiara at 4PM (We live in Subang).
At first I said OK but after all at home we were too exhausted to go there and most of all didn’t want to be there with my kid who had to experience the electrical shock and the following examinations. He didn’t get enough sleep as well.
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Their attempts to contact the mall manager went unanswered, so the boy's father headed over to Publika anyway. Even so, the meeting did not happen as the manager did not pick up his calls.
Deciding not to wait, the boy's father went on to lodge a police report.
He didn’t answer my husband’s call or reply sms. So my husband went to Publika around 4:30pm and called. He didn’t pick up and my husband didn’t want to wait and just headed way back to police station to lodge a police report.
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The manager eventually contacted them again sometime past 5.00pm, explaining that he was in a meeting and if they could arrange another meeting. In a surprising twist of events, he even suggested that the boy's burns were from the light bulb instead of electric shock.
Aghast, the boy's father ended the conversation and said that the matter will be referred to a lawyer instead.
Finally he called my husband and asked if my son is ok and whether can meet us and that time was 5:23pm (from the phone record). So, my husband just asked how they are going to deal with it and he asked whether my son got the burns from hot bulb instead of electrical shock. What on earth is the point of that question???!!!
My husband was just at a loss for words and asked them to deal with lawyer.
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The boy's parents have since sent a formal letter to Publika's corporate management along with the police report, medical test results, and relevant photos
You can also read the rest of the first Facebook post here.
Meanwhile, Publika has taken steps to quell the outrage from customers on their Facebook page, assuring them that the management will be investigating the "root cause" of the incident.
They also said that they will be bearing the boy's medical fees and advised parents to keep an eye on their children at all times.
