A tenant was fatally electrocuted when he rolled over a damaged cable while sleeping.

Krongsak Suksanit, 46, was sleeping off a fever at the rented room in Trat province, southern Thailand, when his leg accidentally touched the exposed electric wire near his bed on December 23.

The apartment caretaker, Somthip Khiaophong, 19, was cleaning the yard at the time and noticed something wrong when she saw Krongsak through the windows convulsing on the floor.

The shocked lass called her boyfriend to shut off the circuit breaker before contacting an ambulance.

Medics arrived and found Krongsak lying stiff on the floor with burn wounds on his body, but still alive and barely conscious. They laid him onto a stretcher and rushed him to the hospital.

However, he succumbed to his injuries and later died while being treated.

Phuchong Bualampan, 32, an friend of Krongsak, said the man had been ill with a fever for two days.

Authorities said the damaged cable was connected to a refrigerator and an electric pan. It ran along the front of the house and was frayed in three spots covered with duct tape.