Man dies after electric wheelchair catches fire
Richard Orange - [email protected]
Published: 23 Oct, 2013 CET.
Updated: Wed 23 Oct 2013 08:32 CET
An 85-year-old man has died in hospital in western Norway after his electric wheelchair caught fire.
The man lived alone, but one of his neighbours came running to help after hearing the smoke alarm in his neighbour's flat on Tuesday night. "The tenant was alerted by the smoke alarm, but the 85-year-old was already engulfed in flames by the time he got any help. The 85-year-old had himself also triggered a security alarm and home carers were on their way," Henning Andersen, from the local police, told NTB. It took fifty minutes for an ambulance to travel the 45 kilometres from Stavanger, the nearest city, and the man, who was severely burned, died in hospital later that night. This is the third serious wheelchair fire in Norway so far this year.
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The man lived alone, but one of his neighbours came running to help after hearing the smoke alarm in his neighbour's flat on Tuesday night.
"The tenant was alerted by the smoke alarm, but the 85-year-old was already engulfed in flames by the time he got any help. The 85-year-old had himself also triggered a security alarm and home carers were on their way," Henning Andersen, from the local police, told NTB.
It took fifty minutes for an ambulance to travel the 45 kilometres from Stavanger, the nearest city, and the man, who was severely burned, died in hospital later that night.
This is the third serious wheelchair fire in Norway so far this year.
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