A 35-year-old man is dead, believed to be the victim of an electric shock from his charging cellphone. Images of a burnt pillow and bed, along with the charred remains of his phone cable have been circulating online since the incident occurred yesterday in Jasin, Melaka.
The victim has been identified as 35-year-old Rosli Osman, and his body was discovered unconscious on a bed, at his friend’s house, at 11:30pm last night.
Police say that the cellphone and charging wire were found next to the body.
Forensics officers report that the body had no other apparent injuries, and they believe the cause of death to be electric shock.
Authorities have not reported what phone model, nor provided an explanation as to how a phone or charger could spontaneously combust.
This isn’t the first time that a charging phone could explode. The lithium batteries used to power most mobile phones are powered by the same chemicals that are also quite like to catch fire if they are over-charged, or over-heated. There have been cases of phone users falling victim to sudden explosions or electric shock using third-party chargers. Even dropping your phone, and creating a tiny puncture in the lithium battery casing can lead to a leak, internal short-circuit, and potential explosion.
A postmortem at Jasin hospital reported that the victim suffered an unstable heartbeat before his untimely passing, and the case has been classified as sudden death.
