An 11-year-old boy in the UK had a brush with death after his Samsung tablet burnt a hole in his mattress. The incident happened on the intervening night of June 20 and 21 in Burntwood.
Callum Hewkin had plugged his tablet to charge and left it on the bed. The tablet was charging through the night for almost nine hours.
The 11-year-old woke up to his room filled with white smoke and his tablet stuck to his bed. When he pried it from the mattress, there was a hole burned on the mattress and the back of his tablet was also burned.
Firefighters said that this was a narrow escape and if the situation had been neglected for another 10 minutes, a fire could have started and Callum's life could have been at risk. Callum's father, Stewart Hewkin told Mirror that he was not aware of the fact that his son had the tablet in his room.
"We'd no idea he had it in his room. When I came down at 7 am, I could smell burning. The next minute my wife was screaming to come upstairs. There was a big burn mark right by where Callum's head had been, and the room was full of white smoke. We feel we have had a lucky escape. His life could have been at risk," Stewart said.
The report further states that the tablet was bought four years ago and the device had become hot while charging since it was plugged in since 9 pm.
The Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service issued a warning in its article regarding the incident on the website. The advisory stated, "Always place phones and tablets on to a safe surface when charging. Make sure you buy genuine chargers for your items and follow the manufacturer's instructions. Be sure to register your product in case there is a product recall. Also, ensure that your smoke alarms are working correctly by testing them regularly. This building did not have working smoke alarms which may have alerted the family to the incident earlier."
This situation is very common in India where electronic gadgets explode, causing harm to the person near it. In a recent incident, a smartphone battery exploded in Madhya Pradesh on June 6, killing a 12-year-old boy, who was sitting next to it.
