Mumbai’s Bhandup: Phone Explodes In Man’s Pocket While Having Lunch

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Videos and news of phones exploding in the pocket of the owner are nothing new. Despite this, such news and videos always go viral. A similar video comes from Mumbai’s Bhandup area where a phone explodes in the pocket of the owner while having lunch at a restaurant.

The CCTV footage of the incident (shared by the news agency ANI) shows that panic gripped the restaurant in Mumbai’s Bhandup area after a phone explodes in a man’s pocket. The footage – recorded on June 4 – shows smoke coming out from the man’s shirt pocket after which he makes efforts to throw the phone away.

Other customers at the Mumbai’s Bhandup area restaurant are seen running, pushing away dishes and tables in their way. There are reports that the man was taken to the hospital and suffered minor injuries. There is no information on the phone’s brand that the man was using.

Phones explode primarily due to over-heating of the circuit boards. Although almost every smartphone maker takes several precautionary measures to limit such incidents, now and then we do hear of such incidents.

A similar incident happened in October last year, when a mobile phone of a passenger in a Delhi-Indore Jet Airways flight caught fire. The crew, however, was quick to control the situation by putting the device in a tray of water, thus saving nearly 120 people, who landed safely.

“The Jet Airways crew (took) all necessary precautionary measures as per the prescribed guidelines. The mobile device was taken into custody for further investigations. There was no injury to guests or crew or (damage to) any part of the cabin. The aircraft landing was safe and uneventful,” read the statement from the airlines.

In another incident in March, a teenager in India died while using a phone. The teenager was talking to a relative on the phone, which she plugged in for charging. The phone (an old Nokia 5233 phone) suddenly exploded and the 18-year-old suffered injuries to her hand, chest, and leg. She was taken to a local hospital, where she succumbed to the injuries.

In April, four kids in India suffered injuries on their hands and chests after a mobile phone battery exploded. The phone exploded after they connected a phone to a discarded high watt charger.

A couple of months back in China, an iPhone exploded in a woman’s hand while she was sitting in the phone shop. The CCTV footage of the incident shows the iPhone bursting into flames while the woman was sitting at the repair desk. The woman, who was shocked by the incident, pushes her chair back. She suffered injuries on her hand and was quickly taken to the hospital.

According to the woman, she took her four months old phone to the mobile shop to complain about the bulge in the battery, notes a report from Mirror. “I was still talking to the technician and was holding it with my left hand when it suddenly exploded. Their manager took me to the hospital,” she said.

Whenever there is any news or an incident of a phone exploding or catching fire, a name that naturally comes to mind is the Samsung Note 7. It was a massive disaster not only for the Korean company but for the smartphone industry as well. The battery issues in the Note 7 forced Samsung to undertake the largest smartphone recall in history. Overall, the company recalled some 2.5 million phones (including a million from the U.S. alone).

The Note 7 was launched in August 2016, and at the time, it was seen as a phone that could beat all others in the category. However, weeks after the launch, reports of phones catching fire swept the world. Even several airlines came out with strict rules for passengers traveling with the Note 7. According to the company, the recall cost $5.3 billion.

An incident of a phone exploding is not only dangerous for the owner of the phone, but also for others around them. Thus, as a precautionary step, users are advised not to put their phone in direct sunlight, or near a source of fire, or leave connected to a charger for a long time.

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