2024-02-22 11:39:24
An electronic cigarette exploded in the pocket of a 49-year-old man.
Kenneth Andersen bends down to pick something up from the floor at his workplace in Norway. Suddenly he felt his thigh heat up. He sees that the left trouser pocket of his trousers is on fire. A few moments later, his whole leg is on fire, bTV reports.
Andersen tries to get the e-cigarette out of his pocket, but it has melted into the fabric of his pants. With the help of colleagues, he tears his burning garment.
Although 70 percent of his leg was injured, the man felt almost no pain. He visited a doctor who only bandaged the wound.
The next day, however, severe pain began. Kenneth Andersen goes to the emergency room. From there, he was placed in a special burn unit. The wound is much bigger than he originally imagined. An operation follows. Doctors transplanted a 30cm piece of skin from his healthy leg onto the burned one. There is also an explanation why the man initially felt no pain – the burn injured a nerve.
“It’s going to take a while for everything to heal. It hurts terribly,” Kenneth told Dagbladet, one of Norway’s biggest newspapers. Despite everything, he considers himself lucky.
“Imagine if that had happened in the car. The cigarette would have exploded in my face,” he added.
Norwegian health authority NHO warns of exploding e-cigarettes from summer 2022.
“The shape and construction of the electronic cigarette makes it like a burning rocket if the battery fails,” experts point out.
The manufacturer says they will seriously investigate the problem.