Chinese Woman Reportedly Killed By Shock From Charging IPhone 5

A woman in China is reported to have been killed by an electric shock discharged from her iPhone 5 whilst the device was charging.

Ma Ailun, a 23-year-old woman from Xinjiang, northwestern China, was killed by an electric shock over the weekend. Her older sister took to Chinese social networking site Sina Weibo, purporting that the fatal charge was delivered when Ma answered her phone as the device was charging.

According to her sister, the device had been purchased in December and was under warranty. The device has since been handed over to the authorities as part of the investigation into her death.

In a statement following the news, Apple said:

We are deeply saddened to learn of this tragic incident and offer our condolences to the Ma family… We will fully investigate and cooperate with authorities in this matter.

Whilst incidents such as this are incredibly rare, experts have noted that there is a risk to using electrical devices whilst being charged. The news pushed the hashtag “iPhone 5″ into Twitter’s top ten worldwide trends.