A smoking motorist is lucky to survive as she ignites an in-car blast when checking a leaking fuel container while driving in Russia.

A motorist in Russia has learned a painful lesson in the transportation of fuel in canisters.

Internet reports say the woman was transporting the fuel in an unsecured can that was laying on its side in the town of Velikiye Luki when she made a fateful error to use a cigarette lighter to check whether it was leaking.

To her horror the can was leaking and there is an in-car explosion with flames shooting out the sides before the Citroen screeches to a halt and the screaming driver flees the vehicle.

She suffered minor burns to her face and more serious burns to her hands but it could have been a lot worse.

The car was destroyed in the incident which took less than three minutes.