76-year-old man in Kerala escapes unhurt as mobile phone explodes in shirt pocket

PTI, May 18, 2023, 6:30 PM IST

Image for representation (PTI)

A 76-year-old man in Thrissur district of Kerala narrowly escaped from suffering burn injuries after his mobile phone, kept in his shirt pocket, burst and caught fire spontaneously on Thursday morning.

This is the third such incident in the state in less than a month, of a mobile phone exploding suddenly and it occurred while the man was having tea at a tea shop in Marottichal area here.

Visuals of the incident went viral and were also shown on TV channels wherein the man can be seen casually sitting at a table in the shop having tea and eating something when the phone in his shirt pocket bursts with a sound and catches fire.

The elderly man immediately jumps up, knocking over his tea glass, and frantically tries to pull out the phone from his pocket. His frenetic attempts save him as the phone falls down from his pocket onto the floor and he manages to walk away from the place unhurt.

An officer of Ollur police station, under whose jurisdiction the incident occurred in the district, told PTI that the septuagenarian was unhurt.

The officer said that on receiving information regarding the incident he had called up the elderly man to find out what happened.

The man told police that he had bought the mobile for Rs 1,000 a year ago and that it was a feature phone. Till now, there were no problems with the device, the man told police according to the officer.

Last week, a similar incident happened in Kozhikode city where a man suffered burns when a mobile phone kept in his trouser pocket had exploded.

Prior to that, on April 24, an eight-year-old girl hailing from Thrissur died after a mobile phone she was using exploded.