After a 12-year-old schoolgirl was electrocuted at a HCM City ATM on April 1, HCM City Power Company found over 120 ATMs leaking power. All of these ATMs have been shut down for repairs.

On April 4, electric workers discovered 64 additional ATMs with the same issue. Dung said the company would complete their inspection of all ATMs on April 5.

Meanwhile, police confirmed that the 12-year-old schoolgirl named Chau Linh Uyen was killed from electrocution. Police found a wire running across a set of stairs where Uyen sat down outside the ATM room. The wire ran from the ATM room to the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) located just behind it. According to HCM City Electric Company technicians, the line, set up by Agribank to provide electricity for the room, had many exposed sections and was leaking electricity.

Witnesses said Uyen, a student from Nguyen Thai Binh Primary School, visited the ATM as she walked home from school. She suddenly fainted and began foaming at the mouth when she sat on the stairs, witnesses said. They thought she had a seizure and applied various first-aid techniques. While witnesses were attending to the fallen girl, one experienced an electric shock when she touched the stairs. They rushed the girl to Saigon Hospital, where she was declared dead before even entering the facility.

Vu Minh Tan, Deputy Director General of Agribank, revealed the bank had paid all the fees for the girl’s funeral. “If the police investigation concludes that it was our bank’s fault, we are ready to take responsibility in accordance with law,” he confirmed.

PV