PHOTOS: Grandma killed by e-bike battery exploding in NYC restaurant

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From the New York Post: A 76-year-old grandmother was killed when an e-bike battery exploded like a “blowtorch” inside a Queens pizzeria on the Fourth of July – trapping her as she tried to leave the bathroom, the FDNY said.

Yuet Kiu Cheung, 76, was consumed by the flames when the device erupted inside Singas Famous Pizzeria on Kissena Boulevard near Cherry Avenue in Flushing around 3 p.m. on the holiday – marking the city’s first deadly fire attributed to lithium-ion batteries this year, officials said Tuesday.

“These things take off very, very quickly with a blowtorch effect,” Chief Fire Marshal Daniel Flynn told reporters. “This woman was in the bathroom. She went to the bathroom for one minute. She was trapped. She could not get out of the bathroom because the device was stored directly outside the bathroom.”

Cheung — who was shopping with a friend when they decided to stop at the pizzeria — heard “three explosions” and smelled a strange odor as she used the bathroom, her grief-stricken son Tommy Ou Yang told The Daily News.


Cheung was rushed to a hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries the next day.

Reporting on the horrifying tragedy, the FDNY shared photos of the aftermath and wrote, “On July 4th, a 2-alarm fire broke out at a pizzeria in Queens. Fire Marshals determined the cause was a lithium-ion battery. An e-bike placed outside the restaurant’s bathroom door trapped a 76-year-old woman inside. She died at the hospital, marking the first lithium-ion battery-related death in New York City in 2025.”

“NEVER store e-bikes indoors and DO NOT BLOCK ANY EXITS. It can be a matter of life or death,” the FDNY warned.

READ MORE from the New York Post.

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