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 By The AsiaOne Techbot
Most people go into a karoke bar planing to sing the night away, but singing your life away is a different matter altogether.
A youth from the city of Haikou, China, collapsed suddenly while singing a song, in what was a suspected case of electrocution from a malfunctioning karoke machine.
Reports from local Chinese newspaper Shin Min Daily News and other Chinese news website say that the 24-year-old, surnamed Wu, was with six others at the Nan Bao Man Yao bar at about 9.30pm on 19 October when the incident happened.
The group of friends had initially booked Room 5 at the karaoke bar, but were told that the room's computer had broken down, and were moved to Room 6 instead.
A while later, they found the smell from a nearby toilet too strong, and asked to be moved again. The group of seven were then given Room 12, in which Wu later died.
According to the Chinese press, a friend of Wu's said another friend was already holding on to a microphone when Wu picked up the second one when his turn came along.
However, the youth had yet to begin singing when his hands started trembling. The victim then tried speaking while pointing to the karoke machine, but his friends were unable to understand him. It was only when a member of the group forcefully removed the microphone from Wu's hand did the victim collapse onto the sofa.
Wu was pronounced dead despite emergency personnel efforts to revive him.
Although the karoke bar denies its machines were faulty, Wu's family and friends believed that it was a leaked electric current that killed the youth.
The victim's older brother also claimed that a family friend had once had an electric shock when using a microphone at the same karaoke bar.
Chinese media reports also said that the karoke bar had given the victims 20,000 yuan ($4,000) as compensation and funeral expenses.
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