Woman suffers serious burns while using phone at petrol station

KUALA LUMPUR: A woman suffered severe burns while she was using her mobile phone as her car was being refueled at a station in Setapak.

Witnesses said they saw the woman, aged 25, of Batu Caves talking on her phone inside the car at around 1.25pm Tuesday at the petrol station in Taman Setapak Indah.

A worker at the station said he then saw smoke in the back of the vehicle and rushed to it. When he opened the door thick smoke gushed out from the car.

He said he and the others found the woman slumped in the backseat of the car.

It is learnt that the woman had placed the fuel nozzle in the receptacle when the phone rang. She moved into the back seat and closed the door to answer the call. 

City Fire and Rescue Department chief operations officer Samsol Maarif Saibani said initial checks showed that there was no fire following the explosion.

"When we arrived at the scene about 10 minutes later, we found the victim with burns covering about 60% of her body," he told The Star Online.

"The cause of the explosion seems to be due to the victim using her mobile phone while refueling her car," he said.