One day after teen electrocuted on Yangon street, site not blocked off or secured

Walking on Yangon’s Bogyoke Aung San Road across the street from Sakura Tower today, you’d hardly know that a teenaged boy was electrocuted there less than 24 hours earlier.

Why?

Because almost nothing at the site has changed.

There are no barriers, nothing has been blocked off, and no police are monitoring the curb where the 16-year-old died after stepping into a puddle electrified by an overhead wire that dropped under heavy rainfall.

Besides removing the stray wire and a small tree, nothing looks different and wires are still hanging precariously above the sidewalk.

Compare the photo above with the photo from yesterday.

“There is no sign to show that this is dangerous,” a local resident who did not wish to be identified said in an interview. “A lot of people are passing this area everyday. It is very dangerous for people.”

Police at Mingalar Taung Nyunt station declined to comment on the safety situation even when personally shown the two photos.

They did, however, identify the victim as a 16-year-old laborer from an outerlying township who came downtown to work.

His name, according to police, is Kan Kaung. In Burmese, Kan Kaung means “lucky.”

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