A delivery rider’s personal mobility device caught fire back in 2021 while he was inside a lift at a Woodlands HDB block, he suffered burn injuries and subsequently succumbed to his injuries and died.
At the coroner’s hearing on 29 March, his death was ruled by State Coroner Adam Nakhoda as a misadventure.
According to investigations, the delivery rider, 20-year-old Muhammad Irfan Danish Azhar, had bought a modified battery for his already-modified PMD from Carousell in December 2020 before the incident and changed the existing battery with one that has a higher voltage, according to The Straits Times.
This was because his friend had told him that his PMD could ride faster than the other approved PMDs.
on 2 June 2021, Irfan was inside the lift at Block 537 Woodlands Drive 16 at about 11.25 pm when there were “flashes of orange light”, followed by an explosion.
A resident living there heard someone screaming for his mother and later saw Irgan engulfed in flames, with parts of his body being charred.
Neighbours tried to extinguish the fire inside the lift with water buckets and police officers later found Irgan lying down on a staircase landing and unable to breathe.
He was taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital by paramedics where he died the following day from smoke inhalation and burn injuries – he had suffered burns on 95% of his body.
The SCDF’s senior fire investigator, Muhammad Faizal Mazlan, testified in court and said that the lithium-ion battery pack may have overheated and that there was no battery management system included in the battery that would’ve prevented the overcharging and overheating that likely resulted in the fire.
The modifications to the battery pack might’ve also included a system bypass that lets it charge faster, and he added that “more current could have been drawn from the battery than expected, possibly leading to overheating”.
State Coroner Nakhoda also urged users to only buy UL2272-certified and LTA-registered devices instead of modified ones to prevent similar incidents in future.