In a harrowing ordeal, a British tourist experienced a life-threatening electric shock in an Egyptian hotel room that nearly ended fatally due to his dental fillings. Steve Ellis, aged 42, was enjoying a ten-night stay at the Coral Sea Imperial Sensatori hotel in Sharm El Sheikh when he came into contact with the bedside lamp and was hurled to the floor.
Recounting the terrifying incident, he expressed that despite enduring the shock for only 15 seconds, medical professionals informed him he had come perilously close to death as the current travelled to the metal fillings in his teeth, causing severe burns in his mouth.
Steve revealed, “I’ve got fillings in my mouth so the electric was going up there – it burnt my mouth.” Continuing his story, he noted, “If I wasn’t able to get myself off the lamp, then I would have burnt alive.” Feeling fortunate to survive, Steve reflected, “I’m pretty lucky.” Highlighting the danger, he warned, “A child could have touched the lamp and then they wouldn’t have been so lucky.”
He described that while emerging from bed and touching the lamp with his left hand, he was stricken by an intense electric shock that rendered his hand adhered to the fixture. In desperation, his right hand met the same fate upon attempting to free himself. The father-of-one from Gloucester was eventually catapulted from the bed mid-shock, alone and forced to scream for assistance.
Following the event, the hotel’s medical practitioner examined him, and Steve later sought the attention of the holiday representative—who, according to Steve, dismissed the severity of the episode. Disconcerted by the lack of concern, Steve remarked, “We said we wanted to make a report and he questioned it. He turned to my partner and wanted her to lie and say that she saw the incident, when she didn’t. I turned to him and nearly walked out – they said it would look better for the paperwork if we lied. I wasn’t going to lie on a document because that could come back to us.”
Steve says that he didn’t use the lamp before the incident but later noticed that there were wires sticking out of the lamp. He said: “There were wires sticking out of the lamp. But it wasn’t something you would notice without going ‘oh, those cables are stuck out. You wouldn’t have noticed it until it happened.”
Straight after the incident, which happened in January this year, Steve was left with a ring-shaped burn around his mouth. He also had blood tests and an electrocardiogram (ECG) scan to check the electrical activity of his heart.
Steve says that his hands “feel like they are burning and tingling” constantly, so he is struggling to work as a kitchen fitter. He said: “My hands feel like they burning and tingling every day. My shoulder is in agony hurts when I lift things as well. I get half-way through the day and I’m in so much pain. I’m losing money because I’m having to come home early or have days off.”
Their holiday provider has been contacted for a comment.
