South African Boy Sadly Dies After Being Electrocuted on Bouncy Castle
An 11-year-old schoolboy in Heidelberg, South Africa, was tragically electrocuted and killed after playing on a bouncy castle that his parents had hired during the Coronavirus lockdown, to keep him and his little sister entertained. Gauteng couple Paul and Rhodine de Beer hired the inflatable for 11-year-old Pedre and his five-year-old sister Anele, 5 to […]
An 11-year-old schoolboy in Heidelberg, South Africa, was tragically electrocuted and killed after playing on a bouncy castle that his parents had hired during the Coronavirus lockdown, to keep him and his little sister entertained.
Gauteng couple Paul and Rhodine de Beer hired the inflatable for 11-year-old Pedre and his five-year-old sister Anele, 5 to play on… but sadly, laughter turned to screams of terror on Monday last week (6 April) when Pedre tripped over the generator as he was being chased by a friend.
Pedre reportedly started “shaking violently” in front of his mother; and she bravely tried to pull him off the motor… but was severely electrocuted herself by the 240 volt charge.
Paramedics race to the scene where the distraught parents fought to revive their son, but despite an hour-long battle the emergency services declared the schoolboy dead.
A family friend said: “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.”
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.”
In 2012 Ruan Pieterse, 5, was electrocuted and killed at Stonehaven-on-Vaal resort in nearby Zuurfontein when the power box from a bouncy castle toppled onto his legs..
A South African Police Service spokesman said it was their understanding that the de Beer family had hired the bouncy castle for three weeks as a treat for their children.
South Africa’s three week coronavirus shut down has just been extended to five weeks by President Cyril Ramaphosa with total deaths due to COVID-19 at just 27 so far.
The owners of the bouncy castle refused to comment on the electrocution and death of the popular youngster until after the investigation into their equipment is completed.
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.”