Boy, 12, dies after being electrocuted playing ‘flip the bottle’ by train line
His friend tried to give him CPR but the but the 630-voltage current killed the boy 'instantaneously'.
A 12-year-old boy died from ‘catastrophic injuries’ after slipping onto an electric line while trying to retrieve a bottle for a game, an inquest has concluded.
James Myers was playing ‘flip the bottle’ in Merseyside with his friend on October 14, 2019 – an online trend where people throw a bottle full of liquid into the air and try to make it land back on its base.
But James’ container landed onto the line of a train track in Bootle, Sefton, and in an effort to retrieve it he was shocked with a 630-volt current.
The youngster had waited for a train to go past and then tried to get onto the track by climbing up a six-foot railing.
He then managed to get onto a stone parapet, walk onto a metal bridge and then drop onto the train tracks.
But it had been raining and James slipped on one of the wet, wooden sleepers and was electrocuted.
Coroner Julie Goulding told Bootle Town Hall: ‘With that kind of voltage, death is instantaneous, sadly this was a catastrophic fatal injury.’
Not realising this, James’s friend tried to save him by pulling on his clothes to get him off the train tracks. The boy even attempted to give James CPR.
Locals previously said the child desperately asked for help from a man walking past with his dog.
The boy apparently called out to him: ‘Mister, mister, my friend’s on the line, don’t leave me!’.
A nearby neighbour helped to call the police and tried to calm the friend down.
The inquiry into James’s death concluded on Wednesday that the boy died from ‘catastrophic injuries’ after he ‘tragically slipped and fell on the live line while out playing, having fun.’
His cause of death was recorded as electrocution during an accident.
But James’s family asked why it was possible for their son to get onto the tracks to begin with.
After the accident, Network Rail made the fencing around the track more robust so it was ‘impossible’ for anyone to ever get in again.
But while British Transport Police’s detective sergeant Ian Henderson told the inquiry about the change, one of James’s family members interrupted and said: ‘It shouldn’t have been like that in the first place.’
Mr Henderson said there had been no serious injuries or fatalities in the years leading up the tragedy and insisted there had been a number of obstacles put in place so people could not reach the tracks.
James’s mum, Sharon, later told the Liverpool Echo: ‘We are disappointed Network Rail have never responded to us in any way at all, with no apology or a reply.
‘His death has damaged our lives forever, we’ll never get to see him grow up, or give us grandchildren, or get married.
‘We see kids in the street and we think: “What would James be like now?”.
‘The authorities say those railings are six feet, but it’s much lower, it’s just a stepping stone to a 12-year-old.
‘The very next day a friend of James’ was back on the line. It took Network Rail up to nine months to fix those railings.’
Similarly James’s dad Kevin, 47, said: ‘It was easy access to the line.
‘It’s like Groundhog Day every day. I relieve the moment a police officer came and knocked on the door, when they told me James was dead.’
Coroner Goulding described James as a ‘lively young 12-year-old boy, full of adventure and fun, and I’m sure that’s how he’ll be remembered’.
Speaking directly to his parents, his two brothers and other relatives who had attended the inquiry, Ms Goulding said: ‘My deepest condolences for the loss you’ve had to face.
‘I can only imagine how difficult today has been for you all.’
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