Luckily, death was on the answering machine. At the end of July, one of the ovens in the crematorium of Vendin-lès-Béthune, in Pas-de-Calais, exploded. The detonator? A cell phone that accidentally slipped into the coffin. At the time of cremation, the device’s lithium battery was heated to nearly 1,100 degrees Celsius, causing the explosion, reports The voice of the North.
Fortunately, the incident did not cause any injuries, despite a ceremony nearby. The layer of insulation would have made it possible to contain the explosion and a possible outbreak of fire. “It is the responsibility of the funeral directors to ensure that there is only the deceased in the coffin”, for his part recalled the director of the crematorium Frédéric Ivain.