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from the i-thought-this-only-happened-in-cartoons dept.
El Reg reports
A forensics report has reported the first known death from the use of electronic cigarettes after a Florida man was killed when his device exploded and drove itself into his cranium.
Tallmadge D'Elia was vaping at home on May 5 when the vaping device, manufactured by Philippines-based Smok-E Mountain, exploded. An investigation by the Pinellas-Pasco medical examiner's office found the explosion fired two pieces of the vaping device into his head, causing death by "projectile wound of head".
D'Elia also suffered burns to 80 per cent of his body, the ABC News reports,[1] after the explosion caused a fire in his house. Firefighters found his lifeless body when they broke in to tackle the blaze.
A representative from Smok-E Mountain said that the problem was most likely a battery issue, or a problem with the atomizer D'Elia had in his mouth. It said the company had had problems with people cloning their devices and using bad batteries.
While D'Elia's death is a first, injuries from electronic cigarettes are surprisingly common. A report last year by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency found that between January 2009 and December 31, 2016 there were 195 incidents where vape pens overheated or exploded, leading to 133 acute injuries to users, 38 or which were described as "severe".
[1] Astounding use of whitespace in the page's source code.
Additional local coverage from Tampa Bay Times:
Autopsy: Vape pen explosion fatally wounded St. Petersburg man and St. Pete man is first U.S. vaping death. Are e-cigarettes safe?.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 17 2018, @08:24PM (5 children)
Suffered burns to 80% of his body? What, was he "unlucky" enough to be vaping in a meth lab when his e-cig exploded?!
LOL... DARWIN!
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 17 2018, @09:43PM
Hey there dummy, guess you don't know much about electrical / chemical fires. They are bad and HARD to put out, so when he hit the floor that flaming battery probably caught a lot of things on fire like a carpet, clothes, etc.
No Darwin award to be had, but I am nominating you for biggest asshole of the year :D
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 18 2018, @12:09AM
I, for one, am glad that after the explosion killed him by sending fragments into his brain, he didn't get up again to put out the fire. How good are you at putting out fires when you're dead? Of course his body burned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 18 2018, @12:30AM (1 child)
I was thinking of Steve Marriott (Small Faces, Humble Pie) who got stoned, went to bed, and lit a cigarette.
He died shortly thereafter when he dozed off and set the bed (and much of the house) afire.
Some people say that the Twin Towers couldn't possibly have burned that ferociously without e.g. conspirators pre-planting accelerants.
They don't think of all the paper, wood, and plastic (documents; furnishings; rugs) already in the place.
I imagine that the 1st thing that this dude did was drop the overheated thing onto a carpeted floor.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday May 18 2018, @03:33AM
Nylon underpants are deadly!
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 21 2018, @05:36AM
Why is this modded Flamebait?