TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Kaohsiung judge awarded NT$4.63 million (US$152,000) in damages on Friday (Feb. 17) to the family of a Chinese man who died by electrocution from a faulty lamp post, saying that “people in the mainland area are also the people of the Republic of China.”

The man, surnamed Ch'ien (錢), came to Taiwan to cycle around the island in 2018, and was killed by an electric shock from a faulty lamp post in Kaohsiung’s Luzhu District. Qian’s family initially sought a NT$11.65 million payout from the Kaohsiung Public Works Bureau, who denied fault and said that Chinese people were not eligible for compensation under Taiwan’s national compensation laws, the Liberty Times reported.

Kaohsiung District Court said this was not true, and Ch'ien’s family were eligible for compensation because Chinese people are also citizens of the Republic of China, Taiwan, by law. The judge ordered the Public Works Bureau to pay the Qian family NT$4.63 million in compensation, a decision the bureau can appeal.

Qian was found on Aug. 18 2018, lying on the ground with no heartbeat. First aid was administered by passersby, but he died before reaching the hospital. One of the passersby reportedly also felt electricity coming from the lamp post that killed Ch'ien, saying that while her father was helping the man her arm felt numb.

Court proceedings revealed the lamp post in question had been reported as leaking electricity six months before the incident, but was not repaired. After conducting an autopsy, the Ministry of Justice’s Institute of Forensic Medicine determined that Ch'ien died by electric shock.