AN EXPLODING mobile phone battery caused a fire in a Granada-province home on Saturday night and the family wants to warn the public about leaving their handsets on charge.
The Samsung mobile was in the lounge at the property in Las Gabias, plugged in, when its 12-year-old owner and his parents were awoken by a loud bang.
They found the sofa on fire, but managed to put it out by themselves without needing to call emergency services.
“It was the noise that woke us up,” the boy's father told a local newspaper.
“Had it not been for the noise, the fire would certainly have spread throughout the house – and we were inside, asleep.
“But thank goodness it was in the lounge when it exploded and not in our son's room.”
The phone is two years old and was plugged in using the original charger it came with, the boy's parents said.