A smoker who switched to e-cigarettes for health reasons has described the horrific moment the device 'nearly blew his legs off'.
David Aspinall's e-cigarette left him fighting for his life, after it overheated and exploded - showering his limbs with metal.
The 48-year-old, from Wigan, nearly lost his flat in the blaze that followed - and spent nine days in hospital recovering from the ordeal.
David Aspinall's e-cigarette overheated and exploded - showering his limbs with shards of metal
The 48-year-old said the device overheated and exploded before sparking a fire which nearly cost him his flat
He said he suffered a huge hole in one leg and a gash in the other. He spent nine days in hospital recovering
He claims that medics likened his injuries to bullet wounds - and says he is lucky to be alive.
Mr Aspinall, who may need three years of skin grafts to recover, told The Sun: 'It glowed and burned in my hand. I dropped it and it exploded.
'There was lots of blood, a huge hole in one leg and a gash in the other.'
'It could have blown my head off,' he added. 'The surgeon said it was like someone had used a gun.'
Despite his terrible injuries, he managed to stagger to a neighbour, who described the scene as similar to a horror film.
As well as his leg, metal from the exploding e-cigarette had embedded itself in much of Mr Aspinall's furniture.
Having switched to e-cigarettes for health reasons, he has now reverted to regular tobacco, branding it 'safer'.
He claims the shop that sold him the e-cigarette blamed faulty batteries.
The incident come after a 62-year-old man in Merseyside died in August, in what was thought to be Britain's first death from an exploding e-cigarette.
Mr Aspinall will need three years of skin grafts to recover, doctors treating him have warned
Mr Aspinall said: 'There was lots of blood, a huge hole in one leg and a gash in the other'
Having switched to e-cigarettes for health reasons, he has now reverted to regular tobacco, branding it 'safer'
Investigators believe the blaze started when an e-cigarette that was charging in the bedroom exploded and set fire to an oxygen concentrator - thought to have been used by the victim, David Thompson.
It is believed he was using a third-party charger that did not come with the original e-cigarette.
In May, a mother and her two young children fled for their lives when an e-cigarette exploded, setting their flat on fire.
A fireman told Keeley Cooper, 22, the clouds of toxic smoke could have killed her and her sons Ellis, five, and Riegan, two, if they had been asleep.
Miss Cooper had to stay in a bed and breakfast while her council flat in Shard End, Birmingham, was repaired.
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