"Nokia" Phone Kills 18-Year-Old Girl Following Explosion

A teenager has died after her phone exploded as she was talking to a relative.

Photographs of a badly damaged phone show the aftermath of the blast that killed Uma Oram at her home in Kheriakani, India.

The 18-year-old’s phone is said to have suddenly exploded as she plugged it in to charge during the conversation.

Uma, who was knocked unconscious and suffered injuries to her hand, leg and chest, was taken to a local hospital, where she died.

Her brother Durga Prasad Oram said: ‘As the battery of the mobile phone was draining out, she plugged it for charging while talking over it simultaneously.

‘The cell phone was put on charging when she started talking to a relative. Its battery exploded suddenly. Before we could know what exactly happened, Uma fell unconscious. She was declared dead at the hospital.’

He told reporters in India that the phone was a Nokia 3310 – though it appears to instead bear a resemblance to a Nokia 5233.

A spokesperson for Nokia said: ‘While we have not been able to independently verify the facts of any of these reports, we can confirm that the mobile phone in question was not manufactured or sold by HMD Global, the new home of Nokia phones, set up in 2017 to create a new range of Nokia devices.

Teenager, 18, killed by smartphone explosion as she talked to relative