A 33-year-old Korean man was found dead on November 28, apparently killed by a cell phone battery explosion. That was the initial declaration made by Professor Kim Hoon at Chungbuk National University, who examined the body.
The man, identified only by his family name, Sur, was found dead by his co-workers at a quarry in North Chungcheong Province where he was employed as a shovel operator.
According to the co-worker who found him, "He had a mobile phone with a melted battery in his left shirt pocket. His shirt had soot on it in the shape of the phone."
“He was injured in the left side of his chest. His ribs and spine were broken. The explosion punctured his heart and lungs, leading to his death," Kim said.
But two days later, South Korean police stated a co-worker had come forward and confessed to fabricating the story after accidentally striking Sur with a drilling vehicle. The preliminary autopsy results had also suggested damage to Sur’s internal organs that were too great to have been caused by a cell phone explosion.