We’ve come across several incidents of phones catching fire, but they don’t cause serious harm to their owners. However, a recent phone explosion in India has tuned out to be fatal, as an elderly man was reportedly burnt alive after his phone exploded.
According to local reports, a phone exploded in the man’s pocket and set his clothes on flame while he was sleeping. The owner’s wife, shocked by the whole incident, called the ambulance and rushed the man to the hospital. Sadly, due to severe burns, the man was declared dead a few minutes later.
The phone was a Jio model
The phone in question was a Jio model the victim purcahsed under the governemt scheme for INR 1100, which translates to around $15. Jio is an Indian brand owned by Reliance, which manufactures feature phones for the masses at very economical prices.
According to the victim’s family, the phone was barely a month old before the explosion happened. Following the incident, other customers who bought the same model have ditched their devices over safety concerns. For now, it appears the handset’s quality was really poor, however, no specifics are available right now as to what caused the explosion.
Police investigation is now underway and more specifcs about the incident are likley to surface upon further investigation. Besides, the company is yet to offer an official statement about the matter, and are likely looking into the incident themselves.
In other related news, a man from Ohio also claimed that his iPhone XS Max caught fire while it was in his back pocket. The handset was barley 3 weeks old when it caught fire out of the blue.
Such incidents remind us that exploding smartphones can be fatal. Hence, readers are advised to make use of authorized accessories and batteries with their smartphones. Besides, industry experts also suggest that smartphone users should not leave their device plugged into the charger overnight.
