A medical student has suffered serious burns after her phone charger exploded and set her bedroom on fire.

Katy Emslie, 26, was using her laptop to recharge a portable EE power bar when it shot out "like a firework" and flew across the room on Thursday night.

She said the charger crashed into a wall, charring the carpet behind it and causing a fire under her bed.

In a panic, the medical student tried to extinguish the flames with her bare hands, leaving them badly burned.

Ms Emslie, from Aberdeen, suffered a partial thickness burn which was treated in accident and emergency for 10 hours.

Her blisters were deroofed which allowed the fluid to drain out and her hand was re-dressed.

She said: "I was charging my EE power bar through my Mac computer overnight and at I was woken up by something which sounded like a firework around 1pm.

"The power bar had exploded up the wall and flames began spreading around my bedroom.

"I was screaming for my mum who was in the next room, I tried patting the flames out with my hand because I was worried that the fire could spread underneath and set my bed alight."

Ms Emslie was taken to a hospital accident and emergency department, where she had to keep the hand over a cold water tap for three hours to ensure it was cool enough to be treated.

EE hands out free power bars to customers at its stores and a spokeswoman said this was an isolated incident.

She added: "We're sorry to hear about Ms. Emslie's experience.

"All of our products undergo stringent safety tests. This is an isolated incident and we're in contact with the customer to investigate the cause of this issue as a matter of urgency."