A smoker who switched to e-cigarettes for health reasons has described the horrific moment the device 'nearly blew his legs off'.

David Aspinall's e-cigarette left him fighting for his life, after it overheated and exploded - showering his limbs with metal.

The 48-year-old, from Wigan, nearly lost his flat in the blaze that followed - and spent nine days in hospital recovering from the ordeal.

David Aspinall's e-cigarette overheated and exploded - showering his limbs with shards of metal

The 48-year-old said the device overheated and exploded before sparking a fire which nearly cost him his flat

He said he suffered a huge hole in one leg and a gash in the other. He spent nine days in hospital recovering

He claims that medics likened his injuries to bullet wounds - and says he is lucky to be alive.

Mr Aspinall, who may need three years of skin grafts to recover, told The Sun: 'It glowed and burned in my hand. I dropped it and it exploded.

'There was lots of blood, a huge hole in one leg and a gash in the other.'

'It could have blown my head off,' he added. 'The surgeon said it was like someone had used a gun.'

Despite his terrible injuries, he managed to stagger to a neighbour, who described the scene as similar to a horror film.

As well as his leg, metal from the exploding e-cigarette had embedded itself in much of Mr Aspinall's furniture.

Having switched to e-cigarettes for health reasons, he has now reverted to regular tobacco, branding it 'safer'.

He claims the shop that sold him the e-cigarette blamed faulty batteries.

The incident come after a 62-year-old man in Merseyside died in August, in what was thought to be Britain's first death from an exploding e-cigarette.

Mr Aspinall will need three years of skin grafts to recover, doctors treating him have warned

Mr Aspinall said: 'There was lots of blood, a huge hole in one leg and a gash in the other'

Having switched to e-cigarettes for health reasons, he has now reverted to regular tobacco, branding it 'safer'

Investigators believe the blaze started when an e-cigarette that was charging in the bedroom exploded and set fire to an oxygen concentrator - thought to have been used by the victim, David Thompson.

It is believed he was using a third-party charger that did not come with the original e-cigarette.

In May, a mother and her two young children fled for their lives when an e-cigarette exploded, setting their flat on fire.

A fireman told Keeley Cooper, 22, the clouds of toxic smoke could have killed her and her sons Ellis, five, and Riegan, two, if they had been asleep.