Denishar Woods was watering the family garden when she was electrocuted by faulty water tap
An 11-year old Australian girl is clinging to life after receiving a massive shock of at least 240 volts from an outdoor water tap as she went to turn off a garden hose.
"She's suffered a catastrophic brain injury, which won't bring her back to me ever," said Lacey Harrison, the mother of the injured girl, Denishar Woods. "I want my baby back, I want my baby back," she told reporters outside of Princess Margaret Hospital, where the girl was taken Saturday from her home in the Perth suburb of Beldon.
While her mother expressed the hope she would survive, she was not optimistic about that or about the quality of her life. "There's nothing of my little girl left in there," she said Friday morning. Doctors took her off life support Friday and she was reported to be breathing on her own.
Exactly what caused the outdoor pipe to become electrified has not yet been determined. But a fault in a neutral conductor supplying power to the property is the likely culprit, Michael Bunko, a director at Western Australia's electricity regulatory agency, told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Malcolm Richard, chief executive of Master Electricians Australia told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that if a neutral wire breaks, "it can result in voltage being seen on everything that's earthed [grounded] in the house," he said. In the presence of water, the consequences can be magnified, he said.
Denishar Woods was watering the family garden at the time in the public housing complex where the family lived. At some point, the power to the house went out. When the mother went to a meter box to turn the power back on, she took a small shock, the ABC reported. She notified authorities.
But when her daughter walked over and gripped the tap to turn off the water, a massive jolt of current, estimated at between 240 and 250 volts, surged through her body.
Once at the hospital, the girl was placed on a cooling pad to protect her overheated organs.
But after an MRI, doctors told the family the girl had suffered extensive brain damage.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
"She's suffered a catastrophic brain injury, which won't bring her back to me ever," said Lacey Harrison, the mother of the injured girl, Denishar Woods. "I want my baby back, I want my baby back," she told reporters outside of Princess Margaret Hospital, where the girl was taken Saturday from her home in the Perth suburb of Beldon.
"I want my baby back, I want my baby back," said Lacey Harrison, Denishar Woods' mother
Exactly what caused the outdoor pipe to become electrified has not yet been determined. But a fault in a neutral conductor supplying power to the property is the likely culprit, Michael Bunko, a director at Western Australia's electricity regulatory agency, told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Malcolm Richard, chief executive of Master Electricians Australia told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that if a neutral wire breaks, "it can result in voltage being seen on everything that's earthed [grounded] in the house," he said. In the presence of water, the consequences can be magnified, he said.
Denishar Woods received a massive shock of at least 240 volts from the outdoor water tap
But when her daughter walked over and gripped the tap to turn off the water, a massive jolt of current, estimated at between 240 and 250 volts, surged through her body.
Once at the hospital, the girl was placed on a cooling pad to protect her overheated organs.
But after an MRI, doctors told the family the girl had suffered extensive brain damage.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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