Man reportedly dies from phone battery blast
A Chinese man has died after a cell phone battery exploded in his chest pocket, according to the Associated Press and other news sources.
Xiao Jinpeng, a welder, reportedly died while working at the Yingpan Iron Ore Dressing Plant in Gansu. A county official told the Xinhua News Agency that the welder had a Motorola phone in his pocket. Colleagues quoted by the agency said the phone was apparently exposed to high temperatures. Xiao suffered broken ribs, and rib fragments pierced his heart, according to reports.
A Beijing spokesman for Motorola, however, is quoted by the Associated Press as saying it's "highly unlikely" that one of the company's products caused the man's death. The spokesman also questioned whether the man was using a fake Motorola cell phone or battery. Motorola and Chinese authorities are currently investigating the matter.
This is not, of course, the first report of cell phone batteries overheating. In July 2004, a teenage girl in Ontario, Calif., suffered second-degree burns when her Kyocera cell phone burst into flames while in her back pocket. And late last year, NTT DoCoMo recalled some lithium-ion cell phone batteries used in its third-generation handsets because they could generate excessive heat that could short circuit the phone.
Leslie Katz, senior editor of CNET's Crave, covers gadgets, games, and most other digital distractions. As a co-host of the CNET News Daily Podcast, she sometimes tries to channel Terry Gross. E-mail Leslie. 
B) Counterfeit battery
C) Counterfeit Worker
D) All of the above
Given the rampant knockoff goods the Chinese produce, I would
put my money on D.
Batteries don't typically explode, spontaneously catch fire, okay, but not explode. It wouldn't surprise me if this insident has anything to do with the welding machine. That's why we need to know about how much experience this guy had. One little slip up and high voltage could have went coursing through his body and caused the battery to explode.
But another thing, who puts his cell phone in a chest pocket? They don't offer much support for heavier objects like cell phones, so I can't see that as being comfortable.
- Plausible cause that includes the phone
- by Visualdude July 9, 2007 9:21 AM PDT
- He was welding with a gas mix, and before he lit the mix with a traditional sparker, the mix reached the cell phone which happened to have just switched to a higher output, which caused a static discharge that lit the gas mix, which propelled the phone into his chest. I honestly am sorry the guy died, but to try to attach a phone defect to his death, is absurd. Anyone watch Mythbusters? As for the girl in California, how many girls have you seen sitting on their phones (literally)?
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