Taipower worker electrocuted conducting Chiayi repairs in critical condition

Tainan, July 15 (CNA) An employee of Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) was placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for life support on Tuesday, after being critically injured by electric shock as he conducted power restoration work in Yijhu Township, Chiayi County.

According to Chi Mei Hospital in the neighboring city of Tainan, where the man was taken after the accident, he had no heartbeat or respiration upon arrival. After emergency resuscitation efforts, he regained vital signs and was connected to ECMO.

The hospital said the patient sustained burns over approximately 20 percent of his body, mainly on the upper torso, and is currently being monitored in the intensive care unit.

The Chiayi County Fire Bureau told CNA that it received a report at 4:58 p.m. about a Taipower worker being electrocuted on Township Road 26 in Yijhu Township.

Personnel were immediately dispatched from its Budai unit to the scene, and finding the worker without vital signs performed continuous resuscitation en route to Chi Mei Hospital in Tainan's Liuying District, the bureau said.