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Motorola phone battery explodes – kills Chinese welder!

Categories: Devices, Motorola
By: , IntoMobile
Thursday, July 5th, 2007 at 11:29 AM

Cell phone battery explodes

That’s right, an exploding cell phone has been blamed for the death of Chinese welder Xiao Jinpeng, working at Yingpan Iron Ore Dressing Plant in Gansu’s Jinta county. In what we suspect is the first case of an exploding gadget actually killing a man, the battery in Xiao’s Motorola cell phone exploded while in his shirt pocket. The explosion was linked to high-temperatures in the plant, according to colleagues – that must have been some crazy-hot work environment.

The fatal battery failure took place on June 19 and resulted in Xiao’s death on July 4th. The battery explosion broke the welder’s ribs and fragments of the casing pierced his heart. Authorities are investigating the incident – particularly whether or not the man was using an authentic Motorola phone and genuine Motorola battery (we all know how prolific Chinese knock-offs can be). If the device turns out to be a bona fide Motorola product, the embattled mobile phone manufacturer could be in for some fun times. Motorola Beijing is brushing off any responsibility and even suggesting that Xiao was using a Motorola fake. Way to lay down the damage control, Motorola. Denial and non-responsibility always works best, just as the White House.

[Via: NewLaunches] photo does not depict a Motorola phone.

About The Author

Will Park

Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...

  • alberto

    holy, im using my old razr right now since i got bored of my cybershot k790a….that makes me wanna throw it out.

    did they say which model it was(fake or not)?

  • Will Park

    No word on what model it was, or if it was even genuine. But I would say you will be fine, don’t quote me on that, but if you keep an eye (or finger) on your RAZR temperature, you will be fine.

  • alatchford

    it wasnt the phone it was the heat so you are fine

  • Rik

    well, my brother’s RAZR just exploded in his pocket. he was lying in the sun, so it got pretty warm

  • jtownken

    LOOK AT THE PHOTO–does that look like a RAZR to you??

  • missd

    That doesn’t look like a razor but exploding batteries are reality. My son was working and his Driod exploded in his pocket. Enough that his coworkers thought there was a chemical fire. Now Motorola says if its a defect they will foot the bill for the replacement phone they send him otherwise he has to send it back or pay for it. What kind of shit is this? It burnt a hole in his work pants(luckily not his leg), ruined the phone and most important burnt his finger trying to get it out of his pocket. Lucky he wasn’t driving or my grandson didn’t have it in his hand.