A man from the Kollam district of Kerala suffered burn injuries after a mobile phone that he had kept under his pillow while sleeping, was ignited. 53-year-old Chandra Babu, a resident of Ochira in Kollam, suffered injuries on his left arm and shoulder.
The incident happened on Monday morning when Chandra Babu, an autorickshaw driver, was sleeping at his home, after coming back from work, stated a Manorama report. Talking to TNM, Babu says that he had not kept the phone for charging when the incident happened. Chandra Babu had been using a basic Nokia handset. Pictures of the phone after it got ignited shows that the right side of the phone was charred. Babu thinks the phone could have overheated, making the battery swell and ignite.
“I was back home after a long ride to the Trivandrum International Airport with a passenger. Since I was very tired, I had a sound sleep. I woke up as I felt a searing pain pain in my shoulder. When I looked at the bed, the side of the pillow where the phone was kept was burnt and sparks were coming from the phone,” Chandra Babu tells TNM.
According to Babu, he was not wearing a shirt while sleeping. He suddenly pushed away the phone to the ground. “I was alone at home when this happened, and I immediately rushed to the government hospital nearby for treatment,” he adds. The Ochira native says he still does not understand how the phone got ignited but he now urges people never to keep mobile phones under their pillows while sleeping.
“Seeing the news, many had contacted me to know what happened. Maybe it was due to friction, whatever it is, it will be safe for people to not keep mobile phones under their pillow while sleeping,” he says adding that it was the first time such a thing happened to him.
In a statement, HMD Global, which manufactures and sells Nokia mobiles said that the customer purchased the phone in 2016 and that the device was not manufactured or sold by HMD. It is pertinent to note that HMD had sold Nokia's mobiles business to Microsoft in 2014, only to buy it back in 2016.
“HMD is committed to producing high quality handsets which deliver a strong user experience and meet high customer expectations. We take any customer concerns seriously. In response to the reported case in Kerala, we spoke to the customer and understand that he had purchased the device four years ago in 2016. The device was not manufactured or sold by HMD. Further, the customer has shared that he disposed of the device and has no further request on it," the company spokesperson said.