Sleeping with electrical equipment plugged in and charging all around us might be normal for many people, but you probably know you shouldn’t really be doing it either, just in case something goes wrong.
If you didn’t already know that, let this picture serve as a reminder:
That’s Katy Emslie’s badly burnt hand, which resulted from trying to extinguish a flaming EE Power Bar.
The power bar that was once plugged into her laptop had exploded and shot across the room from her desk to underneath her bed while she slept. On realizing what had happened, she naturally jumped up and started trying to extinguish the flames in her bedroom, according the Beeb’s report.
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As a result, she sustained the injuries pictured and required several hours in hospital.
@EE Lindsay Graham from your exec office phoned us back yesterday… I did seek medical assistance, I spent 5 hours in A+E + plastics…
— Katy Emslie (@kemslie89) July 25, 2015
It could have been even worse though, Emslie explained to the BBC:
“My hands smelt of firework, my clothes smelt of firework, my hair smelt of firework. My pillow has black soot on it, so it obviously went past my pillow and missed my head by about six inches. It could have landed on my bed and I might not even be here.”
A spokesperson for EE told TNW:
We’re sorry to hear about Ms. Emslie’s experience. All of our products undergo stringent safety tests. This is an isolated incident and we’re in contact with the customer to investigate the cause of this issue as a matter of urgency.
We’d certainly hope it was an “isolated incident” but that isn’t going to be a lot of comfort to the millions of other EE customers with Power Bars that need charging. Probably best to keep an eye on them, for now.
Read next: Apple issues voluntary Beats Pill XL speaker recall due to ‘fire safety risk’
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