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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Ryan Fahey

Teenager tragically dies from massive electric shock while charging her phone overnight

A teenager died when she was zapped with a massive electric shock after falling asleep on top of her charging mobile phone following a shower.

Victim Khorn Srey Pov - a Chinese translator at the Sing Yon Kong Yik gold mining company in Kratie province, Cambodia - was found dead on top of her phone.

Earlier, the 17-year-old had showered and had plugged her phone into a charger and turned its torch light on.

Local officials declared she had died instantly in her sleep from a massive electric shock on 27th July.

Her death has provoked a social media debate on the safety of phone chargers.

One netizen said: "They should be having public awareness campaigns on how to handle electricity. I see people touching live wires on those transformer posts all the time, and unfortunate incidents like these happen often."

The victim was zapped while sleeping on her mobile phone as it charged (Police Commissariat of Kreatie Province/Newsflash)

While another said: "She had just showered, so perhaps she was still wet when she laid down atop that multi-socket thingamajig.

"Even if dry, though, not a good idea to have one of those in bed with you. Tragic."

In 2013, Apple investigated the death of a woman in China who was reportedly electrocuted after answering a call on her iPhone while it was charging.

And in February, 18-year-old Angel Andrada was electrocuted and died after leaving the family dinner table to charge his phone in Argentina.

In Brazil, a two-year-old toddler died after getting an electric shock from a mobile phone charger last year.

Experts explain that the chances of someone being electrocuted by a charger is low.

But the risks grow if an incompatible or substandard charger is used, as they do not insulate correctly, resulting in fire, overheating or electric shock.

Earlier this year, a man who became a "human fireball" when he was electrocuted by an 11,000 volt shock has described the moment he came back to life after laying "dead" for several minutes.

Darren Harris, 29, had been urban exploring and collecting scrap from an abandoned steel works in Wolverhampton when he came across a switchboard and electric mains in November 2020.

Presuming they were off as the building was set to be demolished, the scaffolder put his hand on a live copper bar and was instantly "catapulted" across the room by the voltage.

Somehow Darren regained consciousness and managed to flag down an ambulance passing by chance.

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