Electric fans and South Koreans: a deadly mix?

By Jon Herskovitz

SEOUL, July 9 (Reuters Life!) - Electric fans and Koreans are a deadly combination, according to a local urban legend that says if a person sleeps in a closed room with a fan on all night they may never wake up.

Doctors and researchers say that is a lot of hot air and that there is no scientific evidence to support the idea.

But that has not stopped the local media, fan manufacturers, government agencies and even some health practitioners from telling people they are putting their lives at risk by running the appliance at night in summer.

"When the steamy heat of summer arrives, dying from suffocation (or hypothermia) happens every year because of fans," the government's Korea Consumer Agency said. It estimates that about seven to 10 people a year perish by "fan death".

South Korea's biggest fan maker Shinil Industrial Co. issues warnings with their products telling customers to keep fans pointed away from humans at night. "This product may cause suffocation or hypothermia," the warning reads.

Local media has already reported on the first case of "fan death" this summer, who happened to be a man in his 40s. He was found dead in a small motel room when he fell asleep in front of a fan after a night of heavy drinking, local TV networks said.

And the myth spread to other parts of Asia.

One reason for blaming deaths of this sort on fans may be due to lazy investigators, said Seoul National University Hospital professor Yoo Tai-woo.