Bus passenger’s portable phone charger explodes in his backpack

A man has miraculously avoided injury after his portable phone charger exploded in the backpack he was holding.

He was travelling on a bus in Guangzhou City, in China’s southern Guangdong Province, when the charger blew up.

It looked like something from an action movie:

Despite having a passenger either side of him, the small explosion did not cause any harm.

The charger, however, was completely destroyed.

The man dragged his smouldering bag off the bus, while the driver kicked the burning charger out the door.

The brand and model of the portable charger is not known.

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Warnings about portable phone chargers have been echoing through the internet as more stories of unexpected battery explosions hit the web.

Last month, a woman in the US was shocked to find her portable charger had exploded in her bedroom, nearly burning down her house.

She told TMJ4 the lithium battery “shot out” of her device and caught fire.

In March, 260,000 AmazonBasics portable chargers were recalled for posing fire risks following a bunch of reports the gadgets were overheating.

According to a report from USA Today, one person claimed they had been burned by battery acid.

A further four people said there chargers caused property damage from the smoke, while 53 people had complained about overheating.

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As we learned from an explainer about lithium batteries by scientist Anne Marie Helmenstine for ThoughtCo, the tiny size of the batteries contributes to the fire risk.

They have thin outer coating and thin partitions between battery cells.

“The partitions or coating are fairly fragile, so they can be punctured,” Helmenstine wrote.

“If the battery is damaged, a short occurs.

“This spark can ignite the highly reactive lithium.”

Increasing heat can also cause the battery to ignite.

As such, people are urged to consider the temperature of items with lithium batteries – keeping devices in hot cars or bundled up in blankets can be dangerous.

Helmenstin recommends keeping devices with lithium batteries separate, and to avoid overcharging batteries.