British boy's smartphone catches fire

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COVENTRY, England, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- British officials say their investigation of why a smartphone caught fire and left an 11-year-old boy's legs burned and permanently scarred is a priority.

The family is now demanding the popular BlackBerry Curve 9320 mobile is recalled from shops in time for Christmas.

Pete and Sarah McCreath say they are seeking the BlackBerry Curve 9320 smartphone recalled from British stores before Christmas after a BlackBerry device malfunctioned and spontaneously combusted, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Sarah McCreath said the phone had worked fine for a week, but last Sunday she placed the charging phone in the her son's bedroom because it was used as an alarm, but after the family fell asleep, she heard a loud "pop" and then her son screaming that his legs were on fire. She said she put out the fire by using a comforter.

"The bed was charred and the phone itself was just a blackened shell. It could have easily been much worse if he hadn't have woken up. If I had left the phone on the landing, the whole house could have gone up. You just don't expect this to happen with a mobile phone," she told the Telegraph. "You wouldn't think something so small could do so much damage -- my son could quite easily have died. It sends a shudder down my spine to think what could have happened."

Officials from the Trading Standard and the smartphone's manufacturer, Research in Motion, confirmed an internal investigation was a priority.