High-voltage electric burns: Relation between electric injury and burns on cause of death

摘要

In this study, we report an unusual death case. A 40-year-old man was found dead in the roof terrace on the construction site. Because he touched the 10, 000 volt high-tension transmission line when he transported the steel bars and caused the burning of greasy dirt in scene. The prosecutor considered the death suspicious due to safety protection and improper rescue in the scene, that is the death due to electric or burn or both. Autopsy, the cadaver's chest-abdominal cavity was explosive open and the internal organs were revealed and carbonized. The lower limb was mutilated. In this case, there were the electrical marks and the electrical striation in the cadaver's left internal malleolus and both feet. The black soot particles weren't found in the nostrils, mouth and respiratory tract. The autopsy led to the conclusion of electrocution.