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An e-cigarette smoker claims he burnt a hole through his lung after the device spurted a red-hot liquid down his throat.

Richard Courtney, 33, was vaping as he walked home from a friend's house when he tasted an unusual fluid and began coughing.

The dad-of-three, from Horley, Surrey, woke up the next morning struggling to breathe and was rushed to hospital.

He claims a nurse showed him his e-cigarette was 'spitting liquid out' and that doctors told him his right lung has just 25 per cent capacity.

Richard told The Sun: "It felt like I’d got a trapped nerve in my shoulder. In the morning I had a really tight chest and couldn’t breathe properly.

"I went to hospital. One of the nurses there put my vape on an oxygen tube and showed that it was spitting liquid out.

(Image: Getty)

“I want to give up completely but at the moment I’m just having the odd roll-up. I’m such an addict I can’t just go cold turkey even after what happened.”

The insurance worker had been smoking for 16 years before buying the £100 device made by Chinese firm KangerTech

The devices are meant to turn the liquid into a vapour and are used by thousands looking to quit smoking.

Mirror Online has contacted KangerTech for comment.