A video captured in the Belarusian capital on Friday shows a woman walking through a subway station when the battery of an electronic cigarette in her purse violently explodes, shooting sparks and quickly transforming her bag into a fireball.
RT’s Ruptly video agency obtained footage from a Minsk Metro security camera at the Ploschad Pobedy underground train station, which shows a woman putting something into her purse moments before a violent explosion causes her to drop everything and back away.
After she throws her flaming bag to the ground, the woman immediately checks herself for burns.
A nearby officer hears the explosion and quickly turns around, ready to charge. However, when he sees the woman standing motionless behind her bag, he slowly makes his way to her and gently stamps out the flames with the ball of his foot.
The woman sits down in shock as the officer opens the smoldering remains of her bag.
The Minsk Metro has confirmed that the electronic cigarette’s battery was responsible for the explosion.
This is the just the latest such incident reported by the media across the world, with people losing their teeth, getting engulfed in flames and even dying as a result of e-cigarette explosions.
In one bizarre recent incident, an attorney had to flee a Miami courtroom after his trousers literally caught fire following an e-cigarette malfunction. Ironically, the lawyer was defending a man later convicted by the jury of arson.
READ MORE: Defense attorney’s pants catch fire during arson trial