Experts: Lebanon Pager Explosions Likely Not Lithium Batteries Alone
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Pagers, many allegedly belonging to members of Hezbollah, exploded across Lebanon Tuesday, killing at least 8 people and injuring more than 2,700 people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry and many videos posted online.
Understandably, people immediately began speculating about what happened. Notoriously, damaged lithium-ion batteries can catch fire and explode. In fact, lithium-ion batteries being improperly recycled or accidentally shredded or punctured is one of the most common causes of fires at trash, recycling, and e-waste facilities (fires at these facilities are now at record-high levels).
While it is still unclear exactly what happened in Lebanon, Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the attacks. Videos of the explosions and their aftermath and conversations with experts make it hard to believe that single, small lithium-ion batteries alone could have caused the level of reported damage, suggesting that additional explosives may have been added to the devices by those responsible for the attack.
“There's no way that just a battery hurt someone other than the person wearing the pager,” Kyle Wiens, the CEO of iFixit, which has studied lithium battery explosions, said. “I also can't really see a lithium battery exploding killing a person. 3rd degree burns, yes.”
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