Cell Phone Explodes, Kills Man

(Cheongwon, South Korea) It's believed that a man found dead was killed by an exploding lithium-ion polymer battery in his cell phone.

A 33-year-old excavator driver was found dead on Wednesday in Cheongwon, North Chungcheong Province, after a suspected cell phone battery explosion, police said.

The man, identified only with his surname Seo, was found lying dead beside his excavator in a stone quarry in Cheongwon at 8:40 a.m. by his colleagues. His cell phone was found in his shirt pocket with its battery severely melted and his chest burned and fractured, the police said. [ ... ]

Doctors said that an explosion killed the man. "He arrived dead at the emergency room," Kim Hun, a doctor of Chungbuk National University Hospital, was quoted as saying by Kookmin Ilbo.

"There were burns on his left chest, and fractures of his ribs and spine as well as hemorrhaging in the lungs. Considering all these factors, it seems that high pressure from an explosion damaged his lungs and heart, leading to his death."

The manufacturers of the phone and the battery have not been named pending further investigation. Reportedly, they dispute that it was a battery explosion that caused the death.