BY OSABUOHIEN VIVIAN ROSE
A mobile phone exploded in a woman’s pocket inside a supermarket in a terrifying scene that was caught on video.
Security camera footage showed the unidentified victim standing next to her husband while they were browsing items at the store in the Brazilian city of Anápolis on Saturday.
The phone exploded in her pocket, with her trousers in flames.
Once outside and on the street, bystanders rushed to her aid.
Her husband, Mateus Lima, told the Brazilian news outlet G1 that he took his shirt off to put out the flames.
She was taken to Alfredo Abraão Hospital, where she was treated for first- and second-degree burns, including on her hand, forearm, back and buttocks.
Part of her hair was burned and she was scheduled to return to the hospital to have her wounds treated.
‘She is quite traumatized. I speak more to raise awareness because many people have children and this is very dangerous,’ Lima said.
‘So, it is good to be alert because just like it happened to her, it can happened to other people.’
Lima said they had purchased the cellphone, a Moto E32, a year ago and that they were still making payments on it.
Motorola said in a statement that it had already reached out to the woman and was doing an ‘analysis’ of the partially melted phone to figure out what caused it to catch fire.
‘The company prioritizes the safety of its consumers and emphasizes that all of its products are carefully designed and manufactured with the highest standards of quality excellence, undergoing rigorous testing to offer safe performance for the consumer,’ Motorola said.
A similar incident took place in Massachusetts in September 2024, after an iPhone exploded in front of Audra Cataldo, 16, and her friend while they were watching television.
Cataldo told KOLD that the device was magnetically attached to a $25 charger she had purchased off Amazon.
She heard a ‘sizzle’ moments before the back of the phone blew up, charring her sweatshirt and leaving small burns on her arm. An area of her bed mattress was also burned.
According to a published report by Stanford University, cellphones, laptops and electronic devices are known for generating excess heat.
It can cause the devices to not function properly and, in some instances, lead to the explosion of lithium batteries, which are found in the majority of cellphones.
The study suggested that customers should use original chargers and refrain from covering them with cloth while they are being charged.
