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Seven-year-old Emirati boy dies in freak accident

Tragedy struck an Emirati family in Dubai when a seven-year-old boy died after being electrocuted in a freak accident on Saturday.

The little boy, who wanted to drink some water, died after touching a watercooler outside his house.

Yousuf Ali Al Selati, a Grade 2 student of Al Mawakeb School, was playing in a park opposite his house on the day of incident. He told his father that he was feeling thirsty, after which he was told to drink water from a watercooler at the park. The boy, however, said he would drink water from the watercooler outside their house.

On touching the watercooler, the boy reportedly got electrocuted. Such was the impact that he fell some 15 metres away from the watercooler, the police said. On witnessing the incident, a domestic help at the house screamed, alerting the boy’s parents, who rushed to the spot to find the little boy lying unconscious on the road. They called the ambulance, which arrived and rushed the boy to the emergency unit at Rashid Hospital.

Doctors at the hospital tried to revive him, but was pronounced dead shortly after.

The boy was the only son in the family and had four sisters.

According to the boy’s father, he had purchased the watercooler a few years ago and did periodic maintenance.

The Dubai Police have launched an investigation to identify the cause of the accident and the watercooler has been sent to the General Department of Forensic Science and Criminology.

Dr Mohammed Nassir Abdul Razaq, Deputy Director of Criminal Investigation Department (CID), said the watercooler would be studied to identify if it had a manufacturing defect or some other maintenance related fault. He said the investigation would be completed in a week.

news@khaleejtimes.com