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| Kian with the exploded Blackberry |
A schoolboy was left scarred for life when a Blackberry mobile phone exploded and set fire to his bed.
Terrified Kian McCreath woke up screaming when the phone burst into flames, setting his duvet and mattress alight.
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| The remains of the phone |
He suffered severe burns when the plastic casing melted onto his legs – leaving him with permanent scaring.
Kian’s furious dad Pete said it was a miracle his 11-year-old son did not die in the bizarre blaze.
Blackberry bosses have launched an investigation into the fire – which broke out at the family home in Coventry.
The phone belonged to Kian’s 13-year-old brother Mason, who was given it as a birthday present a fortnight earlier.
Their mum Sarah, 39, heard her youngest son’s screams and rushed into his bedroom to put out the blaze last Sunday.
She said: “It was about 2.30am and I couldn’t sleep so I came downstairs.
“As I left my room and noticed Mason’s phone on charge on the landing.
“I know the phone has an alarm he uses, so I unplugged it and plonked it on Kian’s bed.
“I thought nothing of it, made a cup of tea then I heard a really loud ‘pop’ sound.
“Kian started screaming at the top of his voice, shouting ‘my bed’s on fire!’ It was just horrific.
“It was absolutely terrifying. The whole of his mattress and about a third of his quilt has been burnt away.
“I keep thinking what would have happened if I had been in bed and the phone had set alight on the landing?
“I worry that the house could have burnt down.
“I put out the flames with his brother’s quilt. Kian was shaking. He was terrified.”
Kian said: “It was really scary. I woke up with my legs in a fire at the bottom of my bed.
“I ran out of my room just screaming my head off and my mum came running up the stairs and luckily put out the flames.”
Dad Pete, who bought the phone from a Vodafone store in Birmingham, said Kian has been left mentally scarred.
“If Sarah hadn’t acted so quickly that room could have gone up in flames within minutes,” he said.
“It was just lucky she got there so quickly and that she was up at that time. It was so close.
“I’m shaking just talking about it. If had been any worse I could have my sons in boxes right now.
“Kian has burns to his lower legs where it exploded. It’s left them mentally scarred. Kian won’t even go back in to his bedroom.”
“I want them to recall all these phones in. That phone is dangerous and it needs to be tested.
“A lot of the kids are raving about that phone right now. My main concern now is the safety of other kids.”
A spokesman for Blackberry makers Research in Motion said: “We take claims of this nature very seriously.
“We are investigating this matter as a priority.”
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