The original story, told by the victim’s co-worker, named Kwon Young-sup, had it that the South Korean man was discovered unconscious, with his cell phone (placed in his left shirt pocket) being on fire. It was first presumed that the man died because the cellphone battery had exploded.

Then again, the story didn’t quite fit the evidence found by the coroner. As it followed, the victim’s co-worker suddenly changed his story:

"I was moving the excavator and Seo was suddenly out of my sight. I ran out and saw he was lying down bleeding and his clothes on fire.” Kwon told the police "All this happened in a moment, and I was too afraid about the accident. So I lied that the battery exploded and killed Seo."

In the mean time, a spokesperson for LG (the maker of the victim’s phone) came with a blunt statement that was supposed to trash any rumor that such a battery could explode in such a manner.