A SUPPLY teacher jumped up in fear after her phone overheated and exploded in her hand.

Sarah Crockett, from Silver End, was at Hold the Anchovies restaurant in Newland Street, Witham, when her Samsung Galaxy S7 blew up.

Mrs Crockett, 30, from Broadway, said the phone was not being charged.

The mum-of-two was with her husband Matt, 29, when her mobile started to balloon in size on Friday, September 9.

She had only had the phone for three months before it melted.

Braintree and Witham Times:

She said: "I was having breakfast with my husband- there was nothing to indicate it at all, the phone wasn't hot or damaged.

"I was looking at a photo of my work rota and felt it balloon in my hand- it was like 'a tray out of the oven' hot.

"It made me jump and I had to drop the phone. The smoke just billowed out of it.

"It burnt the table and the waiter took it outside for me and the tea towel around it had melted."

She said the experience was scary but was more concerned about what could have happened if her four and five year old children had the phone.

She said: "My children like to take selfies and if it happened to them their reactions aren't as fast. It could have been so dangerous.

"The people outside the restaurant were thinking 'oh my god'."

She sent CCTV footage from Hold the Anchovies to Samsung, who thought she had been charging her phone at the time.

They said it was the first they had heard of an incident like this.

Jordan Pierce, who works at the restaurant, managed to throw the phone outside.

He said: "The phone went up in smoke, hissing and popping.

"I removed it with a tea towel and placed it outside but the heat was so intense it kept burning for about 10 minutes.

"It burnt the table, it was quite black."

A spokesman for Samsung said: “There are no known safety issues with Galaxy S7 devices.

"Samsung takes customer queries extremely seriously and enquiries are investigated and dealt with on a case by case basis.

"This issue is currently being investigated and our customer services team is in contact with the customer regarding the matter.”