Sydney: An Australian teenager holidaying in
Bali was fatally electrocuted by live wires, officials said
on Sunday, with reports his friends initially thought it was a
prank.
Jake Flannery, 18, died yesterday after touching live
wires on the popular Indonesian island's Jalan Legian tourist
strip, where he was celebrating finishing high school with
friends, according to Australian media reports.
The foreign office confirmed that they were providing
consular assistance to "the family of a teenager from New
South Wales who died in Bali on 26 November as a result of
accidental electrocution.
"The Australian Consulate in Bali will facilitate the
return to Australia of the teenager's remains, in close
consultation with his family, Indonesian authorities and
funeral directors in Bali and Australia," a foreign office
spokesman said a news agency.
Friends who had been holidaying with Flannery were also
being offered support, he added.
Flannery was out celebrating on the well-known Kuta strip
when he received the electric shock at about 3:00 am,
according to local media reports.
"At the time, the victim and his two friends were walking
on the pavement on Legian road," Kuta district police chief
Gede Ganefo was quoted as saying by a local news agency.
The pavement was blocked by construction works and
Flannery had tried to squeeze through two piles of concrete
slabs, accidentally touching signage and an electricity pole.
"At that point, the victim was electrocuted and he
screamed for help," Ganefo said.
Flannery's mother Cheryl told Australia's today Telegraph
that her son's friends thought he was "playing a joke."
PTI
First Published: Sunday, November 27, 2011, 12:22