By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter
Mixed opinions from a coroner and an expert have shown that it will take more time to confirm whether a mobile phone explosion caused a man's death.
A 33-year-old excavator driver, identified by his surname Seo, was found dead Wednesday morning at a stone quarry in Cheongwon, North Chungcheong Province, with a severely burnt mobile phone in his shirt pocket and with his chest burnt and ribs fractured. Police initially suspected that the battery damaged his heart and lungs when it exploded, leading to his death.
A doctor who inspected the body said it is unlikely that the battery blast could inflict such damage to multiple organs. In contrast, an expert who studied phone batteries said it could have done so.
``It is assumed that there are three causes of his death: heart and lung failure and spine damage,'' the unnamed coroner from the National Institute of Scientific Investigation's Daejeon branch was quoted as saying by the Yonhap News Agency. The NISI is the Korean version of CSI.
``It is true that his chest was burnt, but the internal damage is too dispersed to be caused by a phone explosion,'' he said. ``To verify the exact cause of the death, we need to analyze police reports of the accident scene, and the phone.''
Kim Ke-tack, a senior scientist at the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute, said a phone battery could indeed turn into a deadly bomb.
``It can be dangerous. I have seen such explosions during experiments,'' he told The Korea Times. His institute is one of leading research groups in the lithium ion battery field. ``Other factors, such as chronic disease, could have made the situation worse.''
Suspicions have been raised about whether the phone actually killed him or other forces killed him resulting in the battery damage. A powerful explosion may have blown the phone into pieces, but the phone appeared to be still in one piece though the battery part was severely damaged.
Kim, however, said that it is still possible that the battery inflicted serious damage without blowing itself up.
``Sometimes batteries explode like a bomb. But sometimes they just burn up ferociously as in this case,'' he said.
The phone was made by LG Electronics. The company said the battery was very unlikely to explode since it was wrapped in aluminum foil, not a solid container. The manufacturer of the lithium-ion polymer battery was also not identified. LG said a Japanese and a Korean firm are its two main battery suppliers.
indizio@koreatimes.co.kr
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