8-Month-Old Baby Dies After Mobile Battery Charging Next To Her Explodes

An 8-month-old baby died in India after the battery of a mobile phone charging next to her exploded.

The tragic incident took place in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. According to local police, the phone was purchased nearly six months ago. It had a swollen battery plugged into a switch connected to a solar panel.

The infant's mother, identified as Kusum Kashyap, was not in the room at the time of the explosion. When she heard a loud noise, she rushed to the room just as her other daughter had started screaming for help.

The mother saw that the baby had suffered injuries. The child was rushed to the hospital with serious burn injuries. However, she died while receiving treatment.

The police said no complaint had been lodged so far. However, it was a case of negligence by the parents, India TV reported.

The child's uncle said the phone was getting charged via a USB cable. The mother kept the phone on the cot where her baby was sleeping.

"I was speaking to a neighbor when I heard my daughter Nandini shouting for help. The charpoy (cot) was ablaze because of the mobile explosion. Neha was badly burnt. I never thought that my mobile phone could be deadly for my daughter, else I wouldn't have kept it there," Kashyap was quoted as saying by the Times of India.

The child's father was not at home at the time of the incident.

In April, a 5-year-old child in India died after the mobile battery he was playing with exploded. The incident took place in the eastern state of Jharkhand. The child's father, Lajar Marandi, had taken the battery out of his mobile phone, and placed it in a master charger to recharge it. When Marandi stepped away, his son – identified only as Sonu – tried to remove the battery from the charger, which led to it exploding and causing serious injuries to the child. The boy was rushed to a hospital for treatment, but the doctors declared him dead on arrival.

In March last year, a 12-year-old boy, who charged his phone's battery with a universal mobile battery charger, died after the battery exploded on his face. The incident took place in Mirzapur, a district in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.