A pregnant woman has been left scarred for life after her Samsung phone exploded while it charged on her bed.
Kathleen Walsh, 25, from Northampton, was sleeping alongside her boyfriend Daniel Collict, 29, when the Galaxy S5 burst into flames.
The mother-of-two suffered ‘horrific’ injuries as a result of the shocking incident, described by the couple as like ‘someone had lit a rocket in the room.’
Kathleen Walsh (left), 25, from Northampton, was sleeping alongside her boyfriend Daniel Collict, 29, (both right) when the Galaxy S5 burst into flames, leaving her with ‘horrific injuries’
Charging on the duvet, the phone had ignited and then exploded next to the couple, burning Miss Walsh’s hand and tearing a hole in the mattress.
Shocking pictures show the extent of her nasty injuries as well as the blackened remains of the device, which is unrecognisable as a mobile phone.
Mr Collict, a self-employed aquarium builder, said if his partner had been lying in any other position, she and their unborn baby could have died.
He added: ‘We are so grateful to be alive.
‘We have all been told the dangers of sleeping with our phones, tablets and vapes under pillows or next to us, but don’t assume it won’t happen to you.
‘Kathleen is pregnant and if she had been sleeping two inches closer she and our unborn child could have suffered a horrendous fate.’
After hitting the snooze button on their phone’s wake-up alarm, just after six in the morning, the couple were lying in bed with their dog Sasha when they heard ‘a really loud hiss.’
Miss Walsh’s skills balloons on the palm of her hand after being burnt by the flaming phone
After the swelling is let down, a nasty red blister is left on the palm of Miss Walsh’s hand
Mr Collict said: ‘It sounded like someone had lit a rocket. There was a really loud bang.
‘The battery on Kathleen’s charging phone had set alight. It was glowing and melting into the mattress.
‘We took the dog, opened all the windows in the house to keep it well ventilated and turned everything off, poured a bucket of water onto the mattress to cool the springs and drove to the hospital.
‘It took us a few minutes to realise she had hurt her hand with the adrenaline.
‘Luckily we were cuddled up on one side of the bed – that was the saving grace.
‘If she had been sleeping straight in her conventional position the phone would have been right by her side.
Miss Walsh’s charred black phone lies next to the hole the fire burnt through her duvet
‘You could see from the smoke damage on her t-shirt that could have been so much worse. There was even smoke damage to her pillow.
‘It melted through the mattress and we have just built the nursery in the bedroom and there’s a fair bit of smoke damage to the clothes, toys and everything.
‘But thankfully we reacted as quickly as we could.’
Miss Walsh is now being treated at the burns unit Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Buckinghamshire, and is expected to be scarred for life.
Mr Collict said: ‘Samsung have said very little, it has taken them five days for anyone to say, ”we are sorry to hear” or ”how’s your partner doing?”
‘So it’s a very overdue concern they showed.
‘It’s one of those where you’d have thought with all the negative coverage they have had, they’d have some contingency plan.’
A spokeswoman for Samsung said: ‘There are no known safety issues with Galaxy S5 devices.
‘Samsung takes all customer queries extremely seriously and this incident is currently being investigated and our customer services team is in direct contact with the customer regarding the matter.’