North Carolina – A man in North Carolina was sent to the hospital after his E-cigarette blew up while it was in his pocket.
His name is Kevin King and he is currently being treated for the injury and burns the explosion caused.
King was on his way home and was parking his car into his driveway when the batteries exploded. He said there was loose change in his pocket which touched the batteries and caused the explosion.
At first, only one battery exploded. The man rushed out of his car because his pants were catching on fire when the other battery exploded.
He said it immediately started to flare-up and when the second one exploded, parts of the E-cigarette hit his face and burnt parts of it.
He said it is the “worst pain [he’s] ever been in in [his] life.”
The burns on his leg are 3rd degree. Doctors said he needs a skin graft in order to heal.
A shrapnel also hit his eye when the second battery exploded. Doctors said if it hit him directly on his eye, he could have lost sight.
U.S. Fire Administration is warning people that most of the battery explosions of vapes and e-cigarettes happen when it is in someone’s pocket. They said people can suffer very severe burns all over their bodies from these explosions.
Besides King’s most recent incident, there have been 195 other people who have suffered injuries from E-cigarette explosions in the past few years. Out of those 195, about 60 of them exploded in people’s pockets.
As for right now, he is in a stable condition however his skin will need a lot of time to heal, but it will never go back to normal.
