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A college student almost died last week when his e-cigarette blew up in his face, leaving him with severe burns and a broken neck.

The New York Daily News reports the explosion happened Friday, when Memphis native Cordero Caples was enjoying the e-cig during a break at his job in Colorado Springs, Co. He was taken to a local hospital, where he underwent spinal surgery on Sunday. The 29-year-old suffered a broken neck, burns all over his mouth, and a missing tooth.

Via The New York Daily News:

“It’s devastating to see a healthy man with all his strength be put in a position where he can possibly be paralyzed from an e-cig,” Colessia Porter, his sister, told the Daily News.

The victim, who is a father of a 1-year-old girl, was almost  paralyzed for life from the explosive-cigarette. He came out of the spinal reconstruction surgery in stable condition, Porter said. She said he was suffering immense pain prior to the surgery, and was relieved, but still aching from the incident. He told her he didn’t know that the vaping devices could become dangerous handheld bombs.

“If he knew that he was dealing with something that would explode on him, he definitely wouldn’t have put himself in that situation,” she said.

Vapor and e-cigarette sellers believe batteries used in the device caused the explosion. The e-cigarette in question was manufactured by Kangertech, based in China. The company has not yet released a statement, although it has also not been confirmed whether the battery caused the explosion.

Since the rise of the electronic device, reports of explosions also emerged in Florida, where one man lost a piece of his tongue when the device blew up in his mouth. Another incident happened in Britain last year, when a woman’s dress caught on fire after her device exploded. Both cases were linked to faulty batteries.

Caples’ family is considering pressing charges.

SOURCE: New York Daily News | VIDEO CREDIT: Inform 

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