Man left with third-degree burns after iPhone 5C explodes in his pocket

US: A man whose iPhone 5C exploded during his cousin's wake was left with third-degree burns.

Erik Johnson, said he was bending over to get keys when he heard a popping noise before his trousers started to burn.

He said: "My leg just started going on fire.

"'I had to rip my pants off. A couple of people actually said they could smell my body burning.

"It felt like when you're branding a bull or something like that."

Mr Johnson, from Long Island, New York, then had to spend ten days at a specialist burns unit after the mobile melted through his trousers and stuck to his skin.

He now has to have the bandages on the massive wound he was left with on his thigh changed twice a day by nurses.

Photos show how the extreme temperature even melted the screen and fused the plastic of the phone with its metal case.

Damaged circuit boards is one of the reasons a mobile can blow up.

Another is if the wrong charger is used, but Mr Johnson says this wasn't the case and is now suing Apple.

Apple users took to social media to express their shock.

The company has not yet responded to the allegations.