Viral video: Kerala man narrowly escapes death as mobile phone explodes in shirt pocket

New Delhi: A 76-year-old man in Kerala's Thrissur district narrowly avoided sustaining burn injuries after his mobile phone, which was put in his shirt pocket, spontaneously burst and caught fire on Thursday morning. The event occurred at 10 a.m. on Thursday morning, when the man, Elias, was sitting on a chair, sipping his coffee at a tea shop in the Marottichal neighbourhood.

கேரளாவில், டீக்கடையில் அமர்ந்திருந்த முதியவரின் சட்டை பையில் இருந்த செல்போன் திடீரென தீப்பற்றியதால் பரபரப்பு #Kerala #PhoneBlast #Fire #Mobile #Video #JayaPlus pic.twitter.com/g4csyW3tvz

— Jaya Plus (@jayapluschannel) May 18, 2023

(Video credit: @jayapluschannel)

This is the third similar event in the state in less than a month, with a cell phone exploding unexpectedly while the man was enjoying tea at a tea shop in the Marottichal neighbourhood here. The man can be seen calmly sitting at a table in the store enjoying tea and eating something when the phone in his shirt pocket bursts with a boom and catches fire, according to footage that went viral and were also featured on TV networks.

The elderly man leaps up, knocking over his tea glass, and desperately tries to extract his phone from his pocket. His frantic efforts save him, as the phone falls from his pocket into the floor and he walks away from the scene unharmed.

The septuagenarian was unharmed, according to an officer of the Ollur police station, under whose jurisdiction the incident occurred in the district.

The officer stated that after learning about the event, he called the old man to find out what transpired.

The individual informed authorities that he bought the phone a year ago for $1,000 and claimed it was a feature phone. According to the officer, the man told police that there had been no difficulties with the gadget up to this point.

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.