In what circumstances can an electric fan cause death, and why?

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If you look up "Fan Death" in Wikipedia, you will find it dismissed as an urban myth restricted to South Korea and for the circumstances described in the article there may be some truth in this. However, a friend of mine has just lost his cousin in Malaysia in the following circumstances: The young man came home from work hot and tired, stripped, and switched on the fan. He fell asleep under it before he could switch it off and then died. Another friend of mine, who used to work as a Pastor in a politically sensitive tropical country, told me he had buried at least three young men in similar circumstances and that it happened when for some reason people were living alone - normally someone else would switch a fan off when they saw their housemate asleep under it. He also said that occasionally a person falling asleep unclothed on a bare floor in the absence of a fan could die in the same way, but a fan being on markedly increased the probability of death. Apparently the person would wake up paralysed and unable to switch the fan off for themselves, and then die. The friend who's lost his cousin confirms this. The Wikipedia article and talk mentioned hypothermia and dehydration as possible mechanisms, but I wonder whether the real cause isn't cramp - most cramps are of themselves not fatal (the unwelcome ability of crucified persons to survive for extended periods is historical evidence of this - but of course, they were awake and moving), but some may be. Have other mylotters come across this, and if so, do you have other explanations of your own? And is some form of campaign called for, and if so, what?