Thiruvilwamala (Thrissur): Shock and disbelief have gripped the residents of Thiruvilwamala, situated on the outskirts of Thrissur district, ever since the news of the death of Adithya Sree (8) due to a mobile explosion spread across the neighbourhood.
The village is yet to come to terms with the tragedy as they hadn’t heard of a mobile phone explosion killing someone before this incident.
Adithya Sree, daughter of former Pazhayannur block panchayat member Ashok Kumar and Soumya, was killed in the incident that happened at her house at 10.30 pm on Monday.
When they heard an explosion from the house of Adithya Sree, the neighbours initially thought it was the sound of leftover crackers bought for Vishu being burst.
However, they suddenly realised something was wrong when they heard loud wailings from the house and rushed towards the scene. Even then, some of them thought it was the sound of the explosion of the oxygen cylinder the girl’s grandmother had been using.
But they were in utter shock when they saw the grievously injured child with blood oozing out of her body parts. The child had deep wounds on her face and right arm, her neighbours recollected. At the same time, the mobile phone that led to the high-intensity explosion was yet to shatter into pieces.
The shocking incident happened while Adithya Sree, a Class 3 student of Christ New Life School, Thiruvilwamala, was watching videos on the old mobile phone, purchased three years ago. Only the girl and her grandmother were at the house when the incident happened. The phone exploded when the grandmother went into the kitchen. The cops’ primary assessment is that the overheating of the battery might have resulted in its explosion.
'Thought it was crackers exploding'
Neighbours had heard an explosive sound from the girl’s house, but they initially thought it was the sound of crackers being burst. They realised the grave tragedy only when they heard cries from the house soon after.
“We were standing on the side of the road. My son and his friends too were standing not so far away and were engaged in conversation. We came to the road since they had come. Suddenly, we heard the sound of an explosion. Initially, we thought someone was bursting crackers. I even told my son that it might be a big cracker. Just as I finished saying that, we heard wailings coming from Adithya Sree’s house. I rushed there. The grandmother opened the doors, screaming. She uses an oxygen cylinder and my mind raced to the thought that, maybe, the cylinder might have exploded. When I saw her, I was happy that nothing had happened to her.”
“I rushed and hugged her. Amid cries, I could hear her saying the child was lying on the floor. I thought it was some minor mishap and rushed to the room to take her to the hospital. I was utterly shocked when I saw the badly injured child and couldn’t take a second look at her. Her face was nearly dismembered. I understood then there was no hope of taking her anywhere. The child bore such grievous injuries on her face,” said another neighbour.
No one should meet such a fate: Victim’s father
“Me and my wife rushed to the house after being told that our dear child was no more. We couldn’t enter the house as they were not letting us in. Maybe they thought we couldn’t stand the terrible fate that happened to our child. My mother was along with my daughter when the shocking incident happened.
Earlier, we were told over the phone that the girl had gone to bed and that she had placed the phone on her bedside. Don’t know whether she had again started playing with the phone when my mother had gone to the kitchen. She (mother) too came to know about the tragedy after hearing the explosion,” Ashok said.
“While I have heard about incidents of mobile phones exploding, the same resulting in the death of a person was new to me. Have heard of victims losing their hands in such incidents. I’m saying this because this tragedy happened to my dear daughter. Tomorrow, another person shouldn’t meet with a similar fate. It’s common for us to place our phones in our pockets. What to do if it explodes? Surely, it should be found out what happened.”
Ashok said his brother had gifted him the phone three to four years back. “Usually I’m the one who uses the phone. On the fateful day, I left the phone at my house. I had come to the house by 5.30 pm. I’m doing courier work. I had two orders to meet. Since I have two mobile phones, I left one at home before going out. My brother had gone to the Maldives the other day. I kept the phone there to receive his calls. We have no other phone at our house,” said Ashok, struggling to hold back his tears.
