Weekend Randomness: The Case of the Exploding Mobile

In what has been a decidedly light week for news besides the constant horrific flooding in Pakistan this story could almost have made it into my regular week day posts however, I think it fits perfectly into my weekend randomnes Saturday slot.

Gopal Gujja, a 23 year old Indian man was the victim of a rather tragic, and unfortunate accident, his Nokia mobile phone exploded fatally killing him. While there were no witnesses to the event it is presumed he was talking on the phone at the time of the incident. He sustained fatal damage to his neck, head and shoulders.

The man, a resident of Banda Village, Kota at the time, had left his brother's home to tend to his livestock at noon. His body was discovered that night with remains of the headset scattered in the surrounding area around his body. It was a Nokia 1209 headset, a basic model released in the territory in August 2008. Authorities have stated it is the first known case of death due to exploding mobile on the sub-continent, while it wasn't being charged.

In South Korea in 2007 a similar story was reported of a man found dead with a phone burning stuck to his chest. It later turned out the story was a hoax. What had in actuality happened was that his co-worker had pinned him to a rock while reversing an excavator in the quarry where they both worked. The phone exploding story was made to cover up his co-worker's actions. Nokia has failed to comment on the death of Goppal Gujja.