iPod Nano in airport trouser conflagration horror: 'Flames reached his chest' sobs pants-on-fire mum

An Atlanta airport worker claims his iPod Nano burst into flames while stashed in his personal region. The trouser-based blaze was apparently so severe the hapless victim was immolated up to chest level, though reportedly he sustained only superficial injuries.

Danny Williams is quoted in local news reports as saying that glossy paper in his pockets may have saved him from eye-watering burns. He also appeared to suggest that the music-player pant conflagration had threatened his life indirectly. With smoke belching from his garments in an airport, Williams was clearly at risk of being shot repeatedly in the head as a suspected suicide bomber.

"If TSA had come by and seen me smoking, they could have honestly thought I was a terrorist," the luckless airport employee is quoted as saying.

Reporters also spoke to his mother Elaine, who said the Apple-triggered slacks inferno had raged for 15 seconds before being brought under control. There was no word on whether Williams had been forced to evacuate the burning pants, or if there was any involvement by airport fire crews.

According to the IDG News Service, a distraught Mrs Williams confirmed that Apple had sent a returns envelope so the charred Nano - generation unknown - could be returned for inspection, presumably after being separated from the smoking ruins of her son's underwear.

Thus far, Apple representatives have offered no comment on the case. However, it is well known that the iPod Nano contains a Li-ion battery, a type of power technology which has been proven to attract lawsuits in the past.