Parents are being warned about the dangers of leaving phone chargers plugged in sockets, after a toddler in India died from putting a lead in her mouth.
The two-year-old had been playing alone at her grandmother’s house when she saw the phone cable, and put it in her mouth while it was still plugged in.
According to The Times of India, the child was electrocuted. The publication stated that someone had removed their phone from the charging cable, but forgot to turn the plug off or unplug the cable.
While there may have been other circumstances that lead to this toddler’s death – such as the state of the plug socket – it still comes as a warning to parents about the dangers of these cables.
[Read More: Parents warned about risk of ‘severe burns’ to young kids from plugged in phone chargers]
Commenting on the incident, Sheila Merrill, public health adviser for The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), told HuffPost UK: “Babies and small children naturally examine things around them by putting them in their mouths, which increases the risk from chocking and electrocution from live cables. In our busy lives, it is so easy to unplug phones, laptop and notepads without removing the plug from the live socket.”
Merrill added that RoSPA’s advice is to never leave phone chargers plugged in after the phone is removed, or charge in an open space – never on beds or furniture. “Items should also not be left to charge overnight,” she says.
A similar incident was reported in 2016 in Kazakhstan. The baby’s mum was asleep nearby when her child got hold of the charger. Doctors later confirmed the child had died from electrocution, with burn marks that were clearly visible on her hand and arm.
Back in 2017, after a mother said her daughter suffered serious electrical burns from putting a charging cable in her mouth.
Courtney Davis, from the US, shared photos on Facebook of her 19-month-old daughter who had got hold of her phone charger and sucked on it. The mum immediately took her toddler to the doctor, who she said confirmed her child had an electric burn.
At the time, a burns specialist from RoSPA said parents should be warned that if a child bites or chews through an electrical cable carrying a mains charge, it can lead to a serious and “potentially disabling” electrical injury,