Power banks have become a necessary part of everyday life in South Africa in the wake of load shedding.

Stage four today, friends – I hope you’re ready.

Not all power banks are created equal though, a lesson that twenty-nine-year-old Lwando Mashiamahle learned the hard way.

He was recently chilling at OR Tambo International Airport, waiting for his girlfriend to buy a plane ticket, with his power bank in his back pocket, when this happened:

According to News24, following the explosion, “he was not injured, but he did lose his pants in the incident”.

Airport staff sent him the footage of the incident captured on CCTV camera, which he sent to a friend who posted it on Twitter with the heading: “Guys stop buying power banks ko Small street (sic)”.

“Fortunately I have no injuries but my pants were burnt and I had to quickly find the nearest shop to buy a new pair,” he told News24.

Mashiamahle, who is based in Cape Town, was in Johannesburg to visit his girlfriend and to interview for a potential job as a petrol attendant.

He can count himself lucky that the power bank didn’t explode at the petrol station.

“It felt quite hot in my pocket but I thought it was normal, like sometimes your phone heats up when you’re using it, but I never thought it could explode,” he said.

He bought the power bank from a street vendor. He went back to Small Street in Jozi to tell the vendor what happened, but couldn’t find him.

I’m pretty sure his power bank wasn’t the first to explode.

That vendor wasn’t going to stick around.

[source:news24]