The Apple retail store located on Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich, Switzerland was evacuated on Tuesday following a situation with an overheated iPhone battery and its injury of a repair worker (via Reuters and Swissinfo.ch). Zurich police said that the incident happened as the worker was removing the battery from the iPhone, subsequently overheating and "slightly" burning his hand.

zurich apple store
It wasn't confirmed which iPhone was the source of the incident, but afterwards smoke began building up within the store, leading to the temporary evacuation of around 50 customers and employees from the premises. In addition to the repair worker, seven other people required medical attention but none were hospitalized.

The police mentioned that Apple staff responded quickly to the overheated battery by sprinkling quartz sand over it and containing the smoke as fast as possible.

“At the same time, there was a slight build-up of smoke, which led to around 50 customers and employees having to leave the business temporarily,” a police statement said.

“The staff responded well and correctly. It sprinkled quartz sand over the overheated battery so that the smoke could be contained and sucked out after switching on the ventilation.”

According to the police statement, forensic specialists are now examining what caused the incident in the first place, so no explanation was given at the time of writing. Apple has yet to comment on the situation.

Top Rated Comments

ArneK Avatar
101 months ago
It's probably one of those high quality batteries that apple started using from iPhone 6 on...
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
H3LL5P4WN Avatar
101 months ago
Third party battery in Apple Store? lol
The article doesn't state that the Genius was installing the battery. For all we know, the customer got a potato installed at a mall kiosk and the brought the phone it for issues relating to/unrelated to said potato.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
testcard Avatar
101 months ago
Battery replacement programme now includes 12 months complimentary fire insurance.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Cordorb Avatar
101 months ago
I saw a Car battery being replaced once and the dealer shorted the cables and started a small fire.

odd that this did not make the news :-)
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
justperry Avatar
101 months ago
Non story!



It's probably one of those high quality batteries that apple started using from iPhone 6 on...
Or maybe a third party battery.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
quaresma Avatar
101 months ago
Non story!






Or maybe a third party battery.
Third party battery in Apple Store? lol
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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