Amine Britel was standing outside his nightclub in Toulouse, France when his e-cigarette battery exploded in his jacket pocket.
“All of a sudden I heard a loud bang and a noise like a flare had gone off, only ten times louder,” he told the French newspaper Ubergizmo:
After the shock of the explosion, I realized that I had caught fire. I did not really understand what was happening to me. The pain only came afterwards.”
Emergency crews rushed to the scene and took Britel to the hospital. He was severely burned when part of his synthetic jacket melted to his fingers and abdomen.
Fortunately, he was wearing a cotton T-shirt. Burns are far more serious when synthetic materials melt to the skin.
Britel used his e-cigarette immediately before it exploded. He said he believes the fire was sparked by the e-cigarette battery contacting metal coins in his pocket.
Before 2015, e-cigarette explosions mostly occurred during charging and injuries were uncommon. Now injuries and explosions during use are more common then ever, according to eCigOne.com.
At least 121 explosions caused injury or death, according to a comprehensive list of 193 e-cigarette explosions compiled by eCigOne.com as of October 1. Earlier this year, a man in New York said an e-cigarette explosion knocked out his teeth, ripped a hole in his tongue, and severely burned his hands.
Source: The Sun