A man has suffered a fatal accident after he was using his iPhone in a bathtub while the device was charging. Richard Bull, was pronounced dead on December 11 by the paramedics and they cited severe burns to his chest as the reason. 

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Bull was discovered by his wife who initially “thought he had been attacked,”. He apparently plugged the charger into an extension cord, which was at nearby hallway and placed the phone on his chest while he was in the bathtub. He was expected to meet relatives later that day to exchange Christmas gifts. 

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Due to the nature of the “accident”, the West London Coroner's court was obliged to release a statement warning about phones near water. Dr Sean Cummings said: “These seem like innocuous devices but can be as dangerous as a hairdryer in a bathroom.”

Now this story seems very odd and idiotic at the same time. Just because a phone is water resistant, it doesn’t mean that the phone is susceptible to electricity in water.  Not that I want to take a knock on the guy who suffered, but it does seem quite idiotic to do something like that in the first place. Charging a phone near a water body is probably the most obvious thing one shouldn’t do and it seems like this man ignored all warnings.

Bull’s death should also serve as a warning and a reminder that there is nothing to do on your phone that would put your life on the line. If you need your phone all the time, I suggest you take half an hour to take a shower or chill in the tub and detach yourself from technology. I might just save your life, and you phone will always be waiting for you where you left it.