Cell phone blamed for death in S. Korea

If it wasn't an Associated Press report I'd have presumed this story came from the National Inquirer: An exploding cell phone battery is said to have killed a man in South Korea.

Maybe something got lost in the translation because I'm having a hard time accepting the cause of death here. (Update: Told you so.)

Nevertheless, this is from the AP story:

The man, identified only by his family name Suh, was found dead at his workplace in a quarry Wednesday morning and his mobile phone battery was melted in his shirt pocket, a police official in Cheongwon told The Associated Press.

"We presume that the cell phone battery exploded," the police official said on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still under way.

Kim Hoon, a doctor who examined the body, agreed. "He sustained an injury that is similar to a burn in the left chest and his ribs and spine were broken," Yonhap news agency quoted Kim as saying. "It is presumed that pressure caused by the explosion damaged his heart and lungs, leading to his death."

Wow.

The phone's manufacturer, LG Electronics of South Korea, declined official comment pending completion of the investigation, although a spokesman made it clear to AP that the company considers the killer battery scenario virtually impossible.

It's not that batteries don't snap, crackle and pop, of course - millions have been recalled - it's just that the extent of damage caused in such cases provokes great dispute. We went through this drill back in January when a California man was burned in a blaze that fire officials initially called the result of a faulty battery in a Nokia phone, although that verdict was later reversed - with the help of Nokia engineers.

Something tells me that LG engineers are working as we speak to set straight the police officer and doctor who are calling their product a killer.

And, of course, the lawyers are lining up.