Mother & Son Electrocuted in Bath

London, UK – A mother and her three-year-old son died from electric shock when a heater fell into their bath.

The woman’s husband had installed the appliance to keep the family warm only a day earlier.

Today he told how he broke down the bathroom door when they did not answer his shouts. Romanian-born Vasilica Arsene, 37, pulled the heater from the bath and dragged wife Liliana, 34, and son Filip from the water.

Police, firemen and paramedics rushed to the house in Tennyson Road, Harold Hill, near Romford, just before 8.30pm.

Filip, was pronounced dead at the scene and Liliana died early this morning in hospital.

The portable heater was on a unit next to the bath and it appeared to have been accidentally knocked into the water. The alarm was raised when Mr Arsene’s other son Marco, seven, tried to talk to his mother.

Speaking through a translator, Mr Arsene said: “Marco went up to see his mother and did not get any answer. I shouted up the stairs and also got nothing. The door was locked, so I broke it down with my body.

“When I entered the bath was running and I saw my wife and son in the water. I pulled the heater out and pulled out my little baby and wife.” He shouted for help to Florin Enciu, who also lives in the house with his wife and son.

He got another friend, Stefan Davidescu, to dial 999 as he cannot speak English. Mr Arsene said: “Words cannot describe how I am feeling. I put the heater in there because it was cold. I feel so bad and so sorry.”

Mr Davidescu said the whole family, including the couple’s daughter Lidia, 14, were devastated, adding: “It was an accident. They were happily married, they had no problems.”

Mr Arsene, a scrap metal worker from Calarasi in Romania, moved to London from Italy two months ago, with his wife and children following a month later.

Today police were carrying out a forensic examination of the house. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “We were called at about 8.30pm. Officers attended with the fire and ambulance service and found a woman and a child who had suffered a cardiac arrest following an apparent electrocution.”

A neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: “It is the most terrible tragedy. I saw the boy being carried into the ambulance. His body was limp. He was totally pale.

“The ambulance didn’t move for 30 minutes while they tried to resuscitate him. I saw the boy quite often. He seemed like a lovely little boy.”

Toys belonging to the child were still strewn around the front garden today.

Story via ThisIsLondon.co.uk