Story By: Koen Berghuis, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: CEN

A young woman has been electrocuted to death when her mobile phone fell into the bathtub with her while she was charging it.

The accident happened to a 21-year-old woman from the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg, whose name has not been reported due to privacy reasons.

According to the local police, the woman suffered an electric shock when her mobile phone fell into the water.

All medical attention came too late for the woman as she died on the spot.

According to police investigators, the accident must have happened because the socket in which the woman was charging her phone was not grounded.

The victim becomes the second woman to die in Austria in such fashion. In 2017, a female student was found dead in her bathtub after her mobile phone fell out of her hand into the water while she was charging it.

Electrical expert Willi Brugger said that with non-grounded sockets such cases can even happen “without a trigger”, for example, when the user becomes part of the electrical circuit due to a failure in an electrical device.

According to Brugger, the use of mobile phones in the bathroom in connection with grounded sockets is not dangerous. 

Brugger also warned against cheaply produced third-party mobile phone accessories.

He said consumers should only by original articles certified with a “CE” mark which comply with European standards.

The Austrian electrical expert also warned broken smartphone chargers could have fatal consequences in the home.

The make and model of the phone is not known.