A young father was horrified when his brand new $99 Aldi microwave exploded and sent shards of glass flying, narrowly missing his one-year-old daughter.
Mitchell Pritchard, 24, from Bathurst in NSW’s central west, was cooking popcorn at home with his partner and young daughter last weekend.
‘I put the popcorn in and picked up my daughter because she wanted to have a look,’ Mr Pritchard told Yahoo 7.
‘With about ten seconds to go, I put her down and just before the timer ended there was this huge bang, so I leaned forward to see what had happened.’
A young father was horrified when his new $99 Aldi microwave blew up without warning, nearly sending shards of glass flying at his one-year-old daughter
Mitchell Pritchard, 24, from Bathurst in NSW’s central west, was cooking popcorn at home with his partner and young daughter last weekend when the explosion happened
To his horror, something had caused the microwave to blow up internally, forcing the door to swing open and smash into his forehead.
Mr Pritchard said that had his head not gotten in the way, he and his daughter could have been struck with pieces of broken glass and suffered serious injuries.
‘The explosion sounded like a gunshot, my daughter was screaming her head off and I had to calm her down,’ he told Yahoo 7.
Inside the microwave, the turntable plate and bowl holding the dried corn cob he had been using to make popcorn had both been broken into tiny pieces.
‘I quickly unplugged it and got the vacuum and sucked up all the glass and ceramic off the floor so the kids and the dogs didn’t walk over it,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
He said he was using a microwave-safe bowl that he had used to make popcorn the same way countless times with his old microwave.
He took photos of the faulty microwave and returned it to Aldi the next day, where a manager was quick to give him a refund and begin a formal investigation.
‘Aldi were very nice about it all and I will continue to shop there for groceries but not white or electrical goods,’ Mr Pritchard added.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Aldi for comment.
Mr Pritchard said that had his head not gotten in the way, he and his daughter could have been struck with pieces of broken glass
He took photos of the faulty microwave and returned it to Aldi the next day, where they were quick to give him a refund