"I never expected that just playing on my phone would get me electrocuted. The doctor said I’m the first such case he’s seen—before, he only saw things like this on Douyin!" Recently, a video has sparked widespread attention online. In the video, a woman's harrowing experience has made many who have the habit of using their phones while charging break out in a cold sweat. "I was so scared I immediately unplugged my charger!" many netizens said in hindsight, expressing their fear.
Red Star News reporters learned that this incident happened on March 5. Ms. Sun, from Zunyi, Guizhou, was sitting on her couch at home, charging her phone and using it when she got electrocuted. Luckily, her cousin found her in time and rushed her to the hospital, saving her life.
On April 28, Ms. Sun told Red Star News reporters about her traumatic experience. According to her, she was sent to the ICU on the day of the incident, transferred to a regular ward the next day, and after half a month of hospitalization, has now recovered and been discharged. She said the purpose of posting the video was to speak out from her own experience and remind everyone: Do not use poor-quality chargers, and do not use your phone while charging.
30-year-old Ms. Sun co-owns a restaurant in Lhasa with her friends. Around 11 a.m. on March 5, while taking a break at her old home in Zunyi, she was lying on the sofa, charging her phone and watching videos, with her feet casually propped on a nearby heater.
She recalled that it all happened in an instant—"Suddenly I felt the phone go ‘numb’, then my whole body couldn't move and was completely out of control." According to Ms. Sun, the electric current ran from her hand to her foot, "it instantly cycled from my hand to my foot, then discharged from my foot."
Ms. Sun said even more frightening was that the process lasted several minutes. She couldn't move, nor could she call for help.
Fortunately, Ms. Sun's cousin, Mr. He, was also at home. Noticing something was wrong, he unplugged the charger and saved her life. "He had just come out of the bathroom and saw me lying on the sofa shaking, with the charging cable draped across my chin, and my chin was bleeding." Ms. Sun said her cousin immediately realized something was wrong, quickly unplugged the charger, cut off the power, and rushed her to the hospital. By then, Ms. Sun’s mouth and tongue were full of blood, and she was losing consciousness.
Mr. He recalled to reporters that when he came out of the bathroom, he saw his cousin lying on the sofa, with blood coming from her mouth and shaking. "I didn't even think of electrocution at first and just went over to check on her. She couldn’t speak by then, but she was still conscious and motioned with her eyes for me to look at the power strip below."
Mr. He immediately suspected his cousin had been electrocuted. At first he wanted to use a wooden stick to pull the charging cable away, but couldn’t find one. In the emergency, he could only use his hands to separate the charger from the power strip, then called 120 to get his cousin to the hospital.
The hospital admission diagnosis from Zunyi First People's Hospital was: electric shock injury, skin burns. The discharge diagnosis was: multiple electric shock injuries over the body, 3% area, deep second- to third-degree burns, involving the lower jaw, lips, tongue, right palm, and left foot.
Although her life was saved, the injuries caused by the electric shock are far from over. "My mouth and tongue were burned, my hand had to have skin graft surgery, and the donor area is still bleeding." Ms. Sun said that she still needs to change her dressings twice more, and will need laser scar removal treatments later.
She has already spent over 10,000 yuan (around 5,800 ringgit) on hospitalization, with follow-up treatment expected to cost tens of thousands more. Even more worrying for her is that the accident means she can’t return to Lhasa to manage her business for now. “Luckily, my friends are helping look after the restaurant." Once her treatment is complete, she plans to return to Lhasa to take care of business.
Speaking of the cause of the accident, Ms. Sun believes that "poor-quality charger + using phone while charging = deadly combination." At the time, she was not using the original charger or cable.