Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
Video Credit: AsiaWire
This is the moment an electric bicycle charging in a building’s stairwell suddenly bursts into flames when its battery explodes.
CCTV images from the city of Shantou in China’s southern province of Guangdong shows the e-bike and its lithium-ion battery plugged into a wall socket on 20th October.
Seconds later, at around 7:11am local time, the battery lets out a loud blast and catches fire, sending bursts of flames rising from the power source.
A local resident hears the pops and bursts coming from the battery and arrives to find the entire stairwell covered in smoke as the flame grows increasingly larger.
The quick-thinking man manages to unplug the battery charger from the wall but it does not stop the e-bike from burning out of control, engulfing the room in thick, black smoke.
The exploding battery, which according to reports may have been faulty, pops more than 30 times in the terrifying accident.
He finally tackles the blaze with a fire extinguisher about a minute after the fire has started, dousing the flames just as other shocked residents arrive to investigate.
No one is thought to have been harmed during the fire, but the e-bike owner is expected to be fined for unlawfully charging the vehicle indoors.
It was unclear at the time of writing whether the man who put out the fire was also the e-bike’s owner.
Since 29th December 2017, the charging of electric bikes in homes or building corridors and stairwells has been strictly prohibited due to fire hazards.
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