Awaiting results of why boy was electrocuted

IT was distressing to learn that a teenager lost his life doing an innocuous thing such as charging his handphone on a bus (“Eighteen-year-old dies after electrocution on express bus in Butterworth”, The Star, Nov 2; online at bit.ly/4foBSBA).

The incident perplexed us. As far as we know, electrocution is only possible with an alternating current of 230 volts as we have in our homes and not with a 12-volt direct current (DC). We understand that all vehicles are powered by a 12-volt DC battery and this is the voltage we expect at phone charging points installed in buses and other vehicles. As 12 volts is harmless, we cannot comprehend why the teenager was electrocuted.