11-Year-Old Boy Gets Electrocuted To Death While Playing On Bounce House During Coronavirus Lockdown

A young boy was electrocuted to death while playing on a bounce house in his garden during coronavirus lockdown. The incident took place at the family's home in Heidelberg in Gauteng Province, South Africa, earlier this month.

The 11-year-old boy, who was identified as Pedre, died after accidentally tripping over a generator and getting electrocuted while playing on an inflatable bounce house with his 5-year-old sister, Anele. Their parents, identified as Paul and Rhodine de Beer, had reportedly hired the inflatable castle for three weeks to keep the children entertained during the quarantine.

However, to the horror of the parents, the laughter of their children soon turned into screams of horror after which, Rhodine found her son “shaking violently” and desperately attempted to save him by pulling him away from the generator. Both of them were severely electrocuted during the incident.

Emergency services arrived at the scene and attempted to save the 11-year-old by performing CPR on him. However, despite their efforts, they were unable to revive him. Meanwhile, Rhodine, who also suffered serious injuries, managed to survive the tragic incident.

“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,” stated a family friend.

“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” she added.

Following the incident, the bounce house was deflated and was being examined by experts to determine what went wrong. Meanwhile, the owner of the castle refused to comment on the death of the boy until their equipment were investigated.

“He was a beautiful freckle faced blue eyed boy well loved by his fellow learners and teachers and is in all our prayers,” said Jaco Billing, an official from Pedre's school.

As of Tuesday, South Africa has reported 2,415 cases of COVID-19, and the total number of confirmed cases worldwide has reached 1,980,003.