Fourteen Year Old Tragically Dies Following Smartphone Explosion

KAZAKHSTAN – According to an online report at bgr.com, two individuals, a man from Malaysia and a girl from Kazakhstan, died after their smartphones exploded.*

Smartphone batteries were not created to cause an explosion, which is why when one occurs, it makes the news.  Most of the time, individuals have survived these tragic incidents, however, some of them have proven fatal.  A man from Malaysia perished over a year ago when one of the two smartphones he was charging exploded during the middle of the night. A similar incident occurred just recently in Kazakhstan, which caused the tragic death of a fourteen-year-old girl.

According to the report, the girl was sleeping when her smartphone became engulfed with flames as it was charging, as reported by the New Zealand Herald.  Apparently, she had been listening to music in her bed and soon fell asleep.  She was found deceased the following morning, where police believe that she sustained serious head injuries that likely caused her immediate death.

It appears, per forensic experts, that the girl’s cellphone exploded sometime in the early morning hours after overheating while it was being charged.  It is not clear which brand of cellphone the girl was using.

The only smartphone that was deemed to present a fire hazard is the Galaxy Note 7 due to the defective design of its battery as well as quality control issues.  Samsung immediately took measures to recall and redesign the device as they became aware of an increasing amount of fires. They ended up canceling the production of these phones due to the fire hazards that they presented.  It is important to note that the Note 7 explosions never resulted in any deaths.  There have also been explosions that have been caused by faulty batteries for other phone manufacturers, including Apple.  These were reported as being isolated incidents.    

To avoid a fire associated with a smartphone, it is recommended that people do not charge their phones while on a bed.

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Source:https://bgr.com/2019/09/30/a-14-year-old-girl-died-after-a-smartphone-battery-exploded-overnight/