http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6371055%5E13762,00.html

TG,
Can't stand Karaoke!.
Once drummed for a back-up band in a Local Talent Quest, never again!.
The singers varied from bad to downright atrocious.

How could the electronlcs in the thing short bad enough too alow 120V or whaever it was that killed that person?

Some of the equipment in the Far East is of very dubious safety standards, and I very much doubt that it would have been grounded in any way.

Could have been a shorted transformer, loose wire strand, or any one of number of faults.

What voltage would be found in Vietnam, where the incident occured?

(Where's C-H?)

ThinkGood,
Vietnam uses 220V, I think (don't quote me on that though!).
Paul, I once saw a Welder Unit that was made in Vietnam, it was just windings on a core and the Line and Load terminals were bolts with wing-nuts on them driven through a piece of wood, which doubled as the carry handle!.
To connect your Mains supply to the welder, you just twisted the wires under the wingnuts.
There was no shrouding on the terminals (Line or Load) at all.
Cheap but dangerous.

I think Vietnam might have some 120 or 127V as well.

Trumpy,
I recall an item in Electronics Australia some years ago about such a welder. Somebody had purchased that on a trip to Vietnam, or Korea, or Hong Kong -- Someplace like that -- and it was exactly as you describe: Just an open xfmr with wing-nut terminals for both primary & secondary.

Paul,
Everywhere through South-East Asia, there can be things like this found, all over the place.
A work-mate of mine went over to Vietnam, to tour the place, recently and he said it was a real eye-opener!.