8-Month-Old Baby Dies After Her Mother's Mobile Phone Explodes Near Her Face

An eight-month-old baby has been reported dead after her mother's mobile phone, which had been kept next to her face while it charged, allegedly exploded in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India on Sunday, Sept. 11.

The deceased infant's mother, Kusum Kashyap, reportedly purchased the keypad phone from Lava International, an Indian multinational electronics company, around six months ago. On the day of the incident, Kusum had put her eight-month-old baby, Neha, to sleep on a bed and left the room. However, Kusum had forgotten that she had also placed her phone, which reportedly already had a swollen battery, on the bed where the baby was sleeping while plugged into a socket to charge, the Times Of India reported.

While Kusum was talking to a neighbor outside her house, she reportedly suddenly heard a loud explosion coming from inside the residence and a cry for help from her other daughter, Nandini. When Kusum rushed into the house, she found the bed on fire and her infant baby lying on the floor with severe burn injuries throughout her body.

The infant was immediately rushed to a hospital for treatment. Even though doctors attempted life-saving measures on the baby girl, she later succumbed to her burn injuries and died at the health facility, India Today reported.

Following the tragedy, investigating officers revealed that the incident was a "matter of negligence by the parents" and that no complaint has been lodged so far in connection with the death.

According to the deceased child's father Suneel Kumar Kashyap, the family lived in a house still under construction, without a power connection. They used a solar plate and a battery for lighting and charging mobile phones. At the time of the incident, Suneel had gone to work and the children were left under his wife Kusum's care.

"I never thought that my mobile phone could be deadly for my daughter, else I wouldn't have kept it there," Kusum said with tears in her eyes.

"We are quite poor and still using keypad phones. The phone was getting charged using a USB cable but the adapter was not connected, which is why it exploded. My brother didn't have much money for Neha's treatment at a private hospital, otherwise, her life may have been saved," Suneel's brother, Ajay Kumar, said.