Phone Battery Explosion Kills Korean
Written by T_Korea
Wednesday, 28 November 2007
In the first such case in Korea, a 33-year-old man was found dead on Wednesday, presumably killed by a cell phone battery explosion, police said. The cell phone was the product of a LG Electronics.
The man, identified only by his family name, Sur, was found dead by his coworkers at a quarry in North Chungcheong Province where he was employed as a shovel operator, according to the police.
"When I was going up the stony hill to set dynamite, I found a man lying down beside an electronic shovel," said a coworker identified as Kwon. "He was already bleeding from the nose. He had a mobile phone with a melted battery in his left shirt pocket. His shirt had soot on it in the shape of the phone." Prof. Kim Hoon at Chungbuk National University, who examined the body, presumed the death was caused by a phone battery explosion.
"He was injured in the left side of his chest. His ribs and spine were broken. The explosion punctured his heart and lungs, leading to his death," Kim said.
Sur's family and coworkers said he had no chronic diseases.
The death marks the first time that a person has been killed by a cell phone battery explosion in South Korea. In June, Chinese media reported that a person was killed by a mobile phone explosion in China.
TelecomsKorea, YonhapNewsAgency
http://www.telecomskorea.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4781&Itemid=2
