A WOMAN has spoken of the moment she was engulfed in a huge petrol explosion causing horrific burns to her face and body.

Kayleigh Hoggan desperately rolled on the ground for 60 seconds to put out the flames after accidentally setting herself on fire.

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She is now warning people to take extra care when burning garden waste. The 23-year-old said: “Survival instinct just kicked in and I rolled on the floor and put the fire out.

“I took my jacket off and ran to my next door neighbours house and said ‘look I got caught on fire’.

“They put damp towels on me and called an ambulance.

“I was really close to losing my life.”

Miss Hoggan said she feels ‘lucky to be alive’ after going into tachycardia, an abnormally rapid heart rate, as a result of going in to shock.

She said: “I was in the garden and I was putting some rubbish into a barrel which was designed for burning.

“I poured petrol onto a bit of cardboard and put that into the barrel and covered it with rubbish. I then got another piece of cardboard, poured some petrol on it, before lighting it and putting it into the barrel.

“There was then a huge petrol explosion and it blew back in my face and set my hair and jacket on fire.

“I just went in to shock.

“I didn’t have time to be scared.

She eventually stumbled to neighbours Mark Swindlehurst and Nicola Chamley’s house, who applied damp towels to her and called an ambulance.

Miss Hoggan was airlifted to Wythenshawe Hospital for treatment for burns to her face, arm, neck, hands, ear and chest and she remains there in a stable condition.

She said she is now making a good recovery after the incident around 5pm on July 28.

Doctors have told Miss Hoggan, of Laburnum Road, Blackburn she luckily will not have any permanent scaring to her face or hand. They said she will also not require any further plastic surgery.

Miss Hoggan said: “The neighbours put damp towels on me and called an ambulance.

“I was really close to losing my life.

“Not only with the fire but because I went in to tachycardia and it took them a while to get my heart rate back down. I feel lucky to be alive.”

Miss Hoggan said following the accident her right arm was badly burnt almost to the bone, her right ear was badly burnt and she had superficial burn injuries to her face, chest and neck.

She said: “I am doing well. I have got less dressings on now. My face is nearly fully healed.

“Everything is going great as far as I know.

“I am still in hospital because they are just worried about the burns becoming infected but I am hoping to go home soon.

“The skin is growing back on my arm but it just means I will have to wear factor 50 when going out into the sun.

“This has changed my life forever but I know things could have been a lot worse.

“I would like to warn people to be careful about the dangers of using accelerants.

“It’s like the nurse said to me, you can be fine nine times out of 10 but that one time can prove fatal.”

Miss Hoggan said she has received incredible support from her friends, family and the nurses and doctors who have treated her. She said she especially wanted to thank her partner Martin Wilkinson and neighbours Mark Swindlehurst and Nicola Chamley.