Cradle Fund CEO Nazrin Hassan died after his smartphone exploded and caught fire.
Nazrin Hassan, the 45-year-old CEO of Cradle Fund, a Ministry of Finance company in Malaysia that assists tech entrepreneurs and startups, died after one of his two smartphones exploded and caused a fire, the New York Post reports.
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It is believed that Hassan had been charging one of his cell phones in his bedroom in Malaysia when it unexpectedly exploded. While the exact circumstances of his death are still under investigation, police have concluded that the 45-year-old became trapped in the room and died of smoke inhalation.
It is believed that the explosion of the phone, either Hassan’s Blackberry or Huawei, may have caused blunt trauma to the back of his head that incapacitated him, making him unable to flee the subsequent blaze that erupted. Eventually, the mattress in the room caught fire, though Hassan had already died of smoke inhalation by that point.
In addition to the injury to the back of his head, the CEO also reportedly suffered burns to the entirety of his body.
“He had two phones, one Blackberry and a Huawei. We don’t know which one exploded. Who would have thought such an innocuous routine procedure is the reason three young kids will grow up without their father by their side,” Hassan’s brother-in-law told The Malaysian Insight.
This is not the first time that a cell phone explosion has resulted in death. In March, an 18-year-old girl in Kheriakani, a village in the state of Odisha, located in the eastern part of India, died after her cellphone exploded while she was talking on it. The girl, Uma Oram, reportedly suffered injuries to her hand, chest and leg, ultimately rendering the teen unconscious. She was rushed to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead.
In 2016, Samsung announced a recall of all Samsung Galaxy Note 7s after multiple reports that the phones had melted and caught fire. Several of the incidents resulted in injuries and damage to property. The reports eventually led the Consumer Product Safety Commission to issue a warning regarding the smartphones.
“Consumers should immediately stop using and power down the recalled Galaxy Note 7 devices purchased before September 15, 2016. Contact the wireless carrier, retail outlet, or Samsung.com where you purchased your new device to receive free of charge a new Galaxy Note 7 with a different battery, a refund, or a new replacement device,” a statement read.
Samsung claimed that faulty batteries were to blame.
