August 25, 2003
Woman burned by exploding cellphone
In a rare accident in Amsterdam last week, a mobile phone exploded in a woman's face causing burns to her face and neck. According to The Register, the phone switched itself off when the woman dropped the phone and then exploded when she turned it on again.
A spokesman for Nokia confirmed that while the phone was made by Nokia, the battery was not. Nokia intends to carry out an investigation into the incident but has warned that some replacement batteries, while cheaper, lack some essential safety features. Nokia was aware of "three or four" similar incidents of exploding mobile phones over the last six months or so.
Other such incidents reported around the world:
-- The first case tracked down of a cellphone fault causing an explosion occured in Taiwan, injuring its owner, and reported by Cellular News. The woman appeared on ETTV television channel saying: "The phone heated up and I could feel the heat coming from my bag, but I did not pay attention because I was eating. A few minutes later it exploded. The hot debris burned my arms and feet."
-- An incident in Norway was reported by Belgian newspaper Le Soir, in November 2002, when the Nokia handeset of a 15 year-old boy exploded in class. His cell phone was equipped with a non Nokia battery. No one was hurt.
In February this year, Cellular News reported that Nokia had admitted that cases had been reported of non-original mobile phone batteries overheating in the European, African and Asian regions, causing damage to both batteries and Nokia phones.
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2003/08/001457.htm
