According to the deceased’s post-mortem examination, the fragments of the exploded vape pen blew up and projected into his skull.
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Tallmadge D’Elia, a 38-year-old man, was found dead in the burning bedroom of his family’s home in St Petersburg’s, Florida. Police say the cause of his death was a vape pen explosion whose fragments projected their way into his skull after the explosion.
He was a television producer and it is believed that his is the first death of a US citizen from a vape pen explosion. The Medical Examiner of Pinellas-Pasco has said that the official cause of his death was ‘’projectile wound of head’’.
His autopsy further revealed that two fragments of vape pen were found in his cranium. His death has been ruled an accident by the police.
The police report of the whole incident said that on reaching the incident scene, the emergency crews had to face ‘’extensive’’ fire which also damaged the bedroom in which the deceased’s body was located, though there was minimal smoke.
The manufacturer of the electronic cigarette believed to be the major cause of this incident was Smok-E Mountain, according to the medical examiner.
How the device exploded?
The reason behind the explosion of the device – as well as the factors that led to it – isn’t clear, with the post-mortem report also making no mention of the reason.
However, in contrast to common E-Cigarettes, the vape pen which Me D’Elia was using at the time of his death was modified. It means that it allowed its user expanded access to the battery and wasn’t regulating its voltage in the same manner as other vape pens.
Smok-E Mountain, the manufacturer of the E-Cigarette, informed the media through a representative that the device’s battery was to be blamed for the explosion. They also floated the possibility of blaming the mouthpiece for the same.
Similar to smartphones, E-Cigarettes use lithium-ion batteries because they consume little storage space but provide high amounts of electricity.
Li-Ion batteries are used worldwide with few reported incidents, though they were the leading reason behind Samsung’s decision of calling back and halting the sales of Galaxy Note 7 in 2016 as some of the phones were catching fire due to the short-circuiting of the batteries.
