James Delahunty
4 Feb 2009 10:18
A man has died after a mobile phone reportedly exploded in his shirt pocket last Friday. The incident happened in a store in Guangzhou, China. The man worked as a shop assistent at the store, and reportedly had recently swapped out his handset's original battery for a new one. An employee at a nearby store heard the bang and went to investigate, only to find the man lying on the ground in a pool of blood.
Local media reports indicate that the explosion severed an artery in his neck, and he died from massive blood loss. A make and model of the handset has not yet been released by Police, but local media reported the fatal explosion occurred at a Lenovo store, but it is unclear whether it was an official outlet or a shop selling Lenovo products.
Reports of incidents such as this in the past usually involve the use of a low-quality third-party battery. Handset makers, and other manufacturers of consumer electronics products highly recommend that original batteries developed for the products are not swapped out for third-party batteries, particularly because of isolated incidents such as this one.