A woman's clothes went up in flames while shopping in Aldi after an e-cigarette battery allegedly exploded in her pocket.
Sarah Beckett was doing her shop at the Newton-le-Willows Aldi store when she began to feel and hear something strange in her pocket.
The 47-year-old started to scream, which alerted shoppers, who ran over to help after her clothes went up in flames.
Shoppers then doused Sarah in water after grabbing bottles from the shelves to put out the flames.
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Her husband Andrew Beckett believes the cause of the explosion may have been a spare battery from an electronic cigarette that Sarah was carrying in her pocket.
He told the ECHO : " [She was] walking around Aldi and feels and hears something in her pocket, all seems a bit surreal but she remembers screaming and a older couple coming to her assistance.
"We've later found out from a guy on Facebook that these batteries can short if the positive end comes in contact with say a key or a coin.
"So it shorted in her pocket and exploded like a firework when you first light it, lighting her clothes, coat and jumper."
Andy said luckily there were some "brilliant" people in the store who immediately jumped in to help after seeing Sarah, from Newton-le -Willows in distress.
He said: "An old couple came rushing over, as she opened her coat the red hot battery slid out of the hole it had melted and bounced along the floor still glowing orange.
"The old lady kicked it away, grabbed a chair from somewhere and started to douse her with water from the shelf in Aldi.
"The older lady stayed with her all the way through, rubbing her arms and comforting her."
Andy said he was working in North Wales when he got the "awful phone call" from his wife's phone.
He added: "A young man then took her phone and rang me from it, I could hear her screaming and panicking in the background.
"I keep thinking that a few minutes earlier she would have been driving on the main roads of Newton-Le-Willows and it haunts me to think what might have happened.
"I think we both had a little private whimper to ourselves last night when I got her home, she was very lucky, and also very lucky that certain members of public were in the shop at the same time.
"People definitely need to be made aware, we didn't have the slightest idea the dangers of a loose battery."
Sarah, who was taken to hospital, is now recovering at home after receiving suspected second degree burns which she is receiving treatment for at Whiston Hospital burns unit.
