Samsung Grand Duos catches fire in man’s pocket

Oct 4, 2017 12:54 GMT  ·  By

Another Samsung smartphone has exploded, and this time CCTV cameras have caught the whole accident, showing the owner as the tries to stop the fire by rolling on the ground.

A 47-year-old man known as Yulianto and living in Indonesia was waiting in the hotel lobby when his Samsung Grand Duos started overheating in his pocket. The man reached for the pocket to grab the phone, and just when pulling it out, the device exploded and set his shirt on fire.

Yulianto then started rolling on the ground in an attempt to stop the fire, with the video recording showing another man attempting to give him a hand as he was trying to rip off the shirt.

Fortunately, the owner suffered only minor burns on his chest and police authorities say that although he was rushed to the hospital, more severe injuries have been avoided by his quick reaction to take the burning shirt off.

Samsung says it’s investigating

In a statement after the incident, the Indonesian says he never experienced any kind of issue with this phone, but explains that the overheating was most likely caused by the device being connected to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and using GPS at the same time in his pocket. It goes without saying that the phone wasn’t charging at the time of the explosion.

“There was a strong sensation of heat and I felt something start to shake.Before I knew what was happening there was fire and I panicked. I took off my shirt as quickly as I could,” he said.

A Samsung spokesperson explained that the company is already investigating the incident, but no other specifics were provided.

“Consumer safety is our top priority, and we've contacted the consumer concerned to provide the necessary support, and we are currently investigating the device,” Jo Semidang, Corporate Marketing Director of Samsung Electronics Indonesia, was quoted as saying.

Samsung was forced to recall the Note 7 series of phones last year after it discovered a problem affecting batteries causing them to overheat and to eventually burst into flames. However, there were no confirmed issues affecting any other Samsung phone model.

UPDATE: Samsung says it has already conducted an investigation and it turns out that the phone was actually using a third-party battery, and not one manufactured by Samsung.

"From a thorough investigation, we have found that the battery used in the device was not manufactured by Samsung or a company authorized by Samsung. We sincerely wish for our customer's swift recovery, and strongly recommend to all our consumers to use Samsung genuine or approved batteries that have been specifically designed for use in Samsung products.  Samsung is committed to providing consumers with safe and pleasant user experience enhanced by strict quality controls and high safety standards," a company spokesperson told us.