Boy electrocuted to death on bouncy castle parents bought to keep him entertained during lockdown
In a tragic incident, an 11-year-old boy was electrocuted and killed while playing on a bouncy castle in his garden during the coronavirus lockdown.
Pedre was playing with his five-year-old sister Anele in the garden while enjoying some fresh air when the incident happened. The siblings were playing on the inflatable, which their parents Paul and Rhodine de Beer had rented for three weeks to keep the children entertained during the quarantine, reports The Mirror. However, soon the kids’ laughter turned into screams after the schoolboy tripped over the generator.
The children’s mother ran towards the scene only to find Pedre "shaking violently". Rhodine also got an electric shock from the 240-volt charge, but survived, as she desperately pulled her son away. Soon, paramedics were also called to the family's home in Heidelberg in Gauteng Province, South Africa. However, despite an hour-long battle, they could not save Pedre.
“Paul and Rhodine are devastated and Anele is lost without her big brother. The castle seemed a great idea for the kids and their friends to bounce on. There must have been a fault as you don’t just get killed if you touch the motor surely? The castle has been deflated and is being examined by experts to see what went wrong,” a family friend said.
She added: “There must have been a short circuit or something that turned the motor live. That house is always full of fun but it will be a long time until they get over this tragedy.”
Pedre’s father, Paul, reportedly said it was not clear what had caused the short-circuit leading to his son’s death. Meanwhile, Colonel Amanda Viljoen, station commander of Heidelberg police station, said that the matter was being investigated. The owner of the company that rented the jumping castle to the De Beers has not said anything about the matter. He would not comment until the investigation into their equipment is completed, reports claimed.
A Governor at Pedre's school, Jaco Billing said: “He was a beautiful freckle-faced blue-eyed boy well-loved by his fellow learners and teachers and is in all our prayers.”
Last year in December, a nine-year-old boy was also electrocuted and killed while playing with friends. The incident happened in Walmer, Port Elizabeth, South Africa in December 2019.
According to reports, Siyabonga and his friends were using a slingshot to shoot birds when he stood barefoot on an illegal electrical line that killed him. The boy’s aunt, Vuyokazi Rala, and a neighbor tried to save him but they could not. “I asked him to come to me but he could not move. I managed to remove him from the line but I also got shocked on my feet. But our neighbor rescued me. An ambulance was called but on its arrival, my nephew was declared dead,” Rala said.
For Siyabonga’s death, his family and neighbors blamed the municipality as it failed to repair a transformer that was damaged months ago. "My son would still be alive if the municipality had fixed our electricity problems. We have electricity at home but it is not working,” the boy's mother, Amanda Scheepers, said.