Electrocuted Taipower worker stable in hospital

Tainan, July 16 (CNA) The heart and lungs of a worker from state-owned Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower), who was electrocuted while working in Chiayi County on Tuesday, were stable despite having sustained severe damage, an official at Chi Mei Hospital in Tainan's Liuying District said Wednesday.

Lee Yuan-han (李元瀚), 36, remained in the intensive care unit after an electric current estimated at 6,000 volts entered through his left hand and exited through his right, the hospital's Secretary of Medical Affairs, Ku Po-ming (顧博明), told reporters.

Lee was placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for life support, while his body temperature has been kept a few degrees lower than normal as part of the treatment following the serious inflammation of his heart, according to Ku, who also works as an attending cardiologist at the hospital.

Overall, the function of his heart and lungs has stabilized, Ku said, adding that the hospital has performed surgeries on the electric shock wounds.

Ku said the hospital's next step will be to assess how the electric shock affected Lee's brain to determine whether further treatment is needed.

Cooling methods are often used on patients who suffer cardiac arrest to help prevent further damage to organs, including the brain by slowing the body's metabolism. However, the treatment also affects consciousness, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health's website.

President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) visited Lee Wednesday morning and told the Taipower worker's family the hospital would make every effort to save his life.

Lai instructed Taipower and the state-owned company's supervisor, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, to determine the cause of the accident.

Meanwhile, the Southern Occupational Safety and Health Center found that Lee was not wearing electrical insulated gloves and halted work on a feeder line in Chiayi's Yizhu Township, which borders Budai Township, where Typhoon Danas made landfall late July 6.

Wu Chun-chieh (吳俊傑), a section chief at the center, told CNA that a fine up to NT$300,000 (US$10,187) would be issued to the company for this violation of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

The storm toppled a record 2,454 power poles across Taiwan, as well as three electric transition towers in Budai, causing power outages for a total of 1,006,864 households.

However, days of rain in southwestern Taiwan has hampered recovery work in Chiayi County and Tainan, which still had 606 and 104 homes without power, respectively, as of 8 p.m. Wednesday, according to Taipower website.

Two people were killed during the typhoon, both in Tainan, where 10,935 homes have damaged rooftop with 7,957 using canvas coverings as of Tuesday night, according to the city government.